


The Zwer of Cherrywood Bluff

by erindanuta



Category: Hellsing
Genre: Adorable, Beautiful, Beautiful love, Brotherly Love, Crying, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, Falling In Love, Family Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friendship, Lesbian Sex, Lesbian Vampires, Safe Haven, War, all sorts of love, extremely strong protagonist, past relationship with Integra, quirky sidekick, smut starts in chapter 16
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2019-06-28 09:21:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 22,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15704364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erindanuta/pseuds/erindanuta
Summary: A small mission, completed sorely for the sake of proving a point, results in an unexpected budding interest between the most unexpected of people, much like the flight of a flock of partridges during shooting season...As invading and humiliating it would be for her, you couldn’t help but feel inclined to observe this creature and her mannerisms in this situation, faced with this person, and you didn’t once take your eyes off of her.Oh, Rip Van Winkle, do you understand how much you intrigue me...?





	1. Impulse of character

Despite never enjoying the meeting, you decided to humour everyone around the Hellsing table by showing your face, especially since dear Integra had asked you herself. What a pleasure. The inert expression as you waltzed in early was enough to make the first few people in the room, of whom some you didn’t recognise, but others you did, and wriggled your fingers at, feel at ease.  
‘Any particular seat?’ you asked one of the security guards, who was inspecting you with some sort of surprise. He came to his senses and said take any, as you weren’t actually expected to turn up. You chose a chair right next to Integra’s, knowing that would get her all hot and bothered, and plonked yourself down nonchalantly. A servant brought you some tea, and you smiled at him in thanks, making him blush bright, and your eyes twinkled with mischief when you heard harsh footsteps approaching the decadent double doors. 

They burst open, and you rested your chin atop of your interlaced fingers and waited for the surprise. Integra’s powerful, queenly voice resonated, and made the soldiers and attendants coming in stiffen with anticipation whilst she barked orders. You continued to watch with amusement.  
‘Everyone, take your seats, we have a new mission to be discuss-,’ her usually regal and strong face went ghostly white when she noticed your presence. ‘You-you..’ She flushed a furious red as you made eye contact with her, and winked.  
‘Sir, who is that lady?’ asked a short, full-breasted girl who, you assumed, was Alucard’s new vampire, as Integra had mentioned in her letter. Integra explained in a now smooth voice who I was with her regained composure, but her cheeks maintained a light pink dusting, which I found terribly amusing.  
‘This, everyone, is an old friend of mine,’ she placed a little emphasis on the word ‘friend’ while she adjusted her glasses, and I chuckled at her compelling restraint which made her such a good leader, ‘and she’s a very good soldier, and I’m surprised she actually turned up.’ You smiled sweetly.

After the introduction, you beckoned everyone to sit down with a friendly face, whether you were acquaintances or not, and everyone took their seats. Integra shuffled uncomfortably next to you into her throne, and was somehow able to retain a stiff gait throughout the meeting, which, again, you found mildly entertaining.  
The meeting was an emergency one, as to discuss the much circulated threat of millennium, the neo-nazi force that you, whether Hellsing knew or not, had come to understand were making artificial vampires. At first, you speculated whether or not they were doing it the way Alucard did to the big breasted girl Seras, but later found out they had been working with some sort of doctor who had some sort of chip implant. Either way, it all sounded rather boring to you, so you kept it to yourself for your own hilarity. Nethertheless, Integra seemed to have come to the conclusion that millennium were planning an attack on a British warship, and needed to find out more.

As the head of the Hellsing family spoke, you slowly, but discreetly crept your fingers up her slim thighs, causing her breath to hitch in her throat. You squeezed her hip as she discussed the plan of action, and her burning face did not cease to amaze you. You noticed her now erect nipples poking into her dress shirt, and smirked, pretty proud of your handiwork.

‘We will need to send some troops to the millennium headquarters to listen in on their plans. We are not certain on the time, date or anything for that matter, so skilled soldiers are what I’m after.’

‘Ha! What are we, a detective agency?’ you scoffed, ’but sure, I can do that.’

You smirked again, and Integra visibly gritted her teeth.

‘Are you alright, Sir?’ Seras glanced innocently at her.

‘Yeah, you shouldn’t push yourself, I’ll do the mission on my own. You know I can do it,’ you purred, and Integra clenched her fists.

‘Who said I was ever going to be doing the mission!’ she snapped. ‘and yes, I know your capable enough to do it yourself. Why did I invite you over again?’

You held in your laughter and let the meeting continue in slight widespread confusion, and all the meanwhile, both Alucard and good ol’ Walter knew exactly what was going on, but unsurprisingly did nothing, because, well…it was you.


	2. Antithetical Ardor

Integra dismissed everyone with an indifferent tone, and both you and Seras waited behind. Then she snapped.

‘What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing, striding into my estate and acting like that?! Do you even know what you could do to my reputation?!’

‘Oh, yeah,’ you replied carefree, running your finger down Integra’s chest ‘but I know that you’re good enough of an actress to pull it off when you’re feeling a bit… hot and bothered, shall we say, though I can’t exactly say the same for that temper of yours,’ you said in a voice like honey that made her simply seethe. 

You revelled in your beguilement with raised eyebrows as you strolled beside Seras with your fingers in your jumpsuit pockets. You chatted with Seras for a short while about who she was, her relationship with Integra, Alucard etcetera, and she asked you questions in return, of which you happily answered.

‘Well, I worked with Integra a few years back, but I have my own army now, though I do sometimes do some free favours for Hellsing and the army ‘cos it’s fun, but yeah.’ You mused.  
Seras continued asking questions, fascinated by your lifestyle. 

‘What’s your weapon of choice,’ she asked, ‘mine’s handguns.’ She waved a gun in your face, and you didn’t bat an eye.

‘Wow, that’s pretty cool. Maybe you’ll find out later what my favourite weapon is.’ You gazed ahead whimsically, and Seras blushed, and you winked. Integra turned her head passively, although you could tell that she was saturated humiliation right now.

‘Where’s your little sidekick?’ she demanded. You scrunched your eyebrows at her sudden interest in the topic.

‘Cheongdong’s waiting in the house,’ you watched Integra’s expression out of your own compelling curiosity, only to see her face turn bitter.

‘I thought you would be staying in your room in the state,’ she muttered. You shrugged, enjoying her frustration. 

‘Yeah, well, we were there and we haven’t stayed in Hampstead Heath for a while, since, you know, we haven’t come along to these meetings for like, a year, plus, Cheongdong wasn’t sure if he was invited ‘cos only I was addressed in the letter.’ You ambled along and habitually bit the inside of your mouth, drawing blood. Integra sneered, a resentful tone to her tut. You didn’t make any comment, knowing it wasn’t the right time to snide. 

You arrived in the war room where plans for your little snoop in Berlin were being organised ahead of time before the meeting. As ever, you admired Mrs. Hellsing’s efficiency. Despite her foolishly declaring war against millennium, you had the ever-persistent feeling of it being the perfect strategic move, and yet, at the same time, your warm-heartedness would always contradict many of her stupidly independent plans. Then again, what could you say? You used to be exactly like her, many years ago, if you rewound back to your life as a teenager. 

Anyhow. The war room was bustling and officers were hunched over tables, computers, monitors, maps, documents, everything, and you breathed in the fresh air of teamwork that you loved so dearly, and had the privilege to experience almost every day with your own comrades. You exhaled a content sigh, and Seras looked at you with admiration, and you saw Integra doing the same while she was giving the officers a few briefs about the mission, and she jerked her head back when you caught her eye. As you wandered around, checking everybody’s work, talking to some officers about plans and waving at Alucard, who, in your presence, had finally come out of the shadows, you noticed Walter doing his usual butler duties, and you decided to start up a conversation with him.

‘Why, what a pleasure it is to talk to you, General,’ he said in his usual polite drawl. 

‘Hm, feeling adventurous. I do hope this mission is provoking enough. I am looking forward to a little escapade.’ You looked around the relatively large room with your hands on your hips. You and Walter had a stable, friendly bond, mainly because of your similar personalities of genuine sweetness, but with the nurtured talent during war, both physically and intellectually. You made good battle buddies, as performed when you worked for Hellsing a small handful of years ago.

‘Yes, yes…’ he mulled over something in his head contemplatively, ‘Sir Integra was acting rather strange during the meeting, wouldn’t you agree with me?’

You cocked your head compliantly at both of yours’ feigned ignorance. ‘Yes, I suppose she was.’

Walter chuckled gently, before hearing your name being called. ‘Ah, Miss, I believe your presence is required.’ He nodded towards Integra, and you bowed your head in respect at him, and wandered off.  
It seemed Integra wanted to go over the plans with you, but it all seemed such a drag. You knew how you would go about it, and you knew Hellsing’s approach would be different to your own, but you listened anyway, out of respect for the soldiers and officers around you. Nodding your head in agreement, you thanked everyone and left with a warm smile.

You strolled down the empty corridor, a flat expression adorned on your face, feeling nothing in particular. The only reason why you were doing this mission was ultimately to prove a point, which, for someone like you, was really the only validation you got for your skills.  
Although the planning was still going on, you felt a tap on your shoulder, and turned around to Integra, who was facing the floor, a sad expression on her face.

‘Hey-..’ you began gently, before being cut off.

‘Just…be safe, yeah?’ she continued to look at the floor.

‘…sure.’ You mumbled, absolutely no emotion in your response.


	3. Alimenter Mon Feu

You slunk back to your townhouse in Hampstead Heath, paid for by your own little army, where Cheongdong was waiting for you.

‘Ayyyy, Dingdong, you waited,’ you said exhausted, but still content with the warm welcome of a comforting arm around your shoulder. 

‘I got a call from Walter. The plan sounds pretty solid.’ Cheongdong’s black eyes glittered against his pale skin as he poured boiling water into the tea strainer, ‘we’ll leave tomorrow, yeah?’

You nodded and pulled out a cigarette.

‘Hey,’ Cheongdong began, ‘y’know we got a recent import of pot from Mexico, and I brought some along, if you want to try it.’

‘Haha, sure, but if I get sick tomorrow, then you’re getting the blame.’ you laughed, taking the wet cigarette out of your mouth and back into the pack. Cheongdong replaced the empty space with a freshly packed pipe, your favourite orange crystal one, and he rolled himself a joint. You lit up and sat silent for a minute or so, exhaling the dense cloud and filling the room with calm. You always enjoyed the presence of your right hand man. He was your best friend, and a trustworthy, bubbly, fun one at that. You were glad to be able to work with him, especially on days like these, when your mood was an uneven landscape.

While he was cooking dinner, he looked up at me, my eyes glued to the ceiling. ‘Hey, thanks for going to the meeting today, I bet Integra was all over you.’

‘Yeah, but don’t stress it,’ you leant back in your chair, ‘I know how much you hate that place.’

‘Can’t stand it, but at least now we have the privilege of taking a nice little magical mystery tour to Germany!’

‘Great,’ you sighed, ‘looking forward to it.’ You and Cheongdong hadn’t been to Germany since you were checking out what the major was like. An SS Officer specially appointed by the Fuhrer. An interesting character, to say the least, but both you and Cheongdong knew to stay away from lovers of war. Unfortunately, Integra seemed to have taken an unadvisable liking to the idea, what with her recent declaration and all.

Cheongdong sighed as well. ‘What can we do? Two war-fanatics having a catfight, and yet we still manage to drag ourselves into it.’

‘Took the words right out of my mouth.’ We ate in high silence, before settling down to sleep.

‘Two war-fanatics having a catfight, huh?’ you thought to yourself. It sounded so incredibly laughable and small, and yet you couldn’t have described it any better.


	4. Stormy Grey

The muted yellow sunshine seeped through the curtains in your room, landing right in your eye. It was the sort of yellow that stated that it was going to rain and the contrast of the dampened yellow against the stormy grey of the sky made a surprisingly beautiful pairing, although you weren’t particularly looking forward to travelling to Germany in the rain. Then again, what did you expect? This was British autumn. You sat up, but remained in bed. Running your hands through your hair, you replayed yesterday’s events in your head. Now that you thought about it, Integra introduced the mission yesterday, and they were already sending you off today. It was no surprise, though, considering yours and Cheongdong’s skills and experience, but was Hellsing that desperate to get information? Well, whatever. 

You got up and went downstairs. 6:30 am. Although you weren’t planning on leaving until evening, late afternoon time, you still liked to get up early, just to make your empty days feel longer. You went to check up on Cheongdong who was still asleep, then went downstairs to make boil some water and make some breakfast. You eyed the bottle of Appleton Estate rum on the drinks cabinet, but shook your head, knowing you’d fall asleep halfway through the mission, although that in itself didn’t sound too bad. 

You had some leftovers from yesterday’s traybake salmon, and so you split the remains onto two plates and put it into the microwave just as the kettle came clicked. Two English breakfast teabags, two mugs, the mellow sound of boiling water hitting the teabags, and the low humming of the microwave. 6:40 am.  
While the tea stewed, and the food cooled down, you sat down on the sofa and leaned your head back, your silky rose robe lazily wrapped around your body. You sighed out a discontent breath, and half-assedly went through the plan for the mission in your head. You were so tired, and at this point, you were kinda regretting putting yourself forward. You just wanted to go back up to Yorkshire to where your comrades were. Where your friends were. 

Again, you sighed. You might as well do this little task; if anything, it will do your reputation in the British forces some good, and then you and Cheongdong could return to Harrogate again. You kept your patience intact.

You squidged the tea bags and checked the food, before bringing it up to Cheongdong’s room. You knocked on the door, and when you got no answer, you entered the room to find him still sleeping.

‘Hey, Dingdong, time to get up!’ you put his breakfast down and harshly opened the curtains. He moaned and cursed and I laughed, sarcastically pointing out our oh-so-important mission this evening.

‘Yeah, yeah, whatever, lady…’ His dark hair was sticking up and he glared at you, and you laughed. 

After bringing your food from downstairs, you sat down on Cheongdong’s bed and ate. You spoke of the upcoming mission, how his folks were doing, how the headquarters up North were doing, and all that good stuff. You had a good laugh, and then you took the plates downstairs and Cheondong washed up. 

You got dressed in your gold and black jumpsuit you wore the day before. Cotton, so not very flexible, but looked like it meant business. The distinct cinched waist and A-line legs were sophisticated, and at the very least made you feel like you were living a relatively normal life. 6:45 pm. Cheongdong wore a black button up trench coat, and you noticed the running theme of business-like attire. You smiled.

‘You ready for this?’ Cheongdong looked at you, a mischievous glint in his stormy eyes, and you were instantly comforted.

‘S’pose.’ The dark blue wool of your own trench billowed in the English air, and you both set off towards the estate.


	5. Power Suit

Integra solemnly, but prudently gave you and Chengdong the official order to go, and you both left, grumbling about the waste of ‘precious time’ it had been trawling your asses over to headquarters. It was decided after a boringly meticulous debate that taking a train to Berlin would be the best route. As unusual as it may seem, it was the best method to stay reasonably hidden, and closer to the ground for that matter, acknowledging the fact that Germany’s recent activity involving military aircrafts had been extensive, and everyone was crossing their fingers in hope that it wasn’t a distant sign of a theoretical air raid. But, who knows. The situation was all very hypothetical, and not even Integra could make head nor tail of the Major’s possible plans.

You had been unnecessarily spoiled with first class seats in a shiny new train, and you passively clicked your tongue as you both willingly sat down, making the most of the short-lived, evanescent comfort which would disappointingly be halted in ten hours’ time. 

As the train jerked to a start, you rested your head in your hand, which was balanced on the train window, and you lightly felt the mildly disturbing rattle against your scalp. Despite his complaints of sitting in the aisle seat, Cheongdong had already fallen asleep on your shoulder. You smiled, and thought of the warmth he brought to you everyday. An excitable young adult of Korean heritage. A boy with such enthusiasm and spirit, and yet so talented. You could always settle your heart knowing you had him as your adjutant. A best friend definitely worth all the attention he seemed to love. A benevolent being in himself.

 

You groaned groggily at a hand shaking your shoulder, and wet, grey light cooling your eyes as you awoke in the early hours of the morning.  
‘Oi, old lady, time to get off,’ Cheongdong flicked your face.

‘Ah, fuck off, I’m not old,’ you rubbed your eyes and grimaced at actually how bright the day was.

‘Well stop acting like one. Come on, check-in’s in ten.’

‘The fuck? Where’s the hotel?’ You grabbed your handbag with all your stuff in, and threw Cheongdong his messenger bag.

‘Dunno, like, up the road or summin?’ He shrugged, ‘Walter organised it, he knows what he’s going on about. Plus, we don’t really want the German military knowing we’re here, they’d have a damn seizure.’ 

You made your way to the hotel, your pronounced, refined style drawing insouciant attention to yours and Cheongdong’s attire, but there was no suspicion at all, which served well with your obvious European features. You entered the hotel, a grand building, and settled in your equally grand five star bedroom, of which you would be sharing with Cheongdong as to make life easier. Supposedly, the Major’s meeting would take place tonight at his headquarters in Mitte, near where you were staying, and so you had about half a day to prepare, which, for you and Cheongdong, would be a piece of cake.

You both looked through the documents regarding the gathering, including exact coordinates, soldiers and officers attending, and current events that could be the topic of conversation. You scanned the papers, studying each separate soldier, analysing their pictures, and building up a mental image of their personalities, strengths, and involvement. All very fierce looking people, as expected of the Fuhrer’s top SS officer. ‘Zorin Blitz’- A smug and mature looking character with a thuggish appearance. The notes regarding this officer were unusually thorough, making both of you wonder whether it was done on purpose. Wields scythes, Heterochromia, tattoos, it was all carefully done. You assumed that this Lieutenant would be a bit of a smart ass, but a good leader and bold speaker in that. That could be beneficial to Millennium, but there was always the downsides of attracting too much negative attention due to brash decisions, resulting in loss of respect. All in all, a decent soldier, you concluded.

‘Warrant officer Schrodinger’. A young boy wearing a Hitler Youth uniform with overly relaxed features. Werewolf, purple eyes, messenger. You got the gist that this kid had a close relationship with the major, and enjoyed it, much like a teacher’s pet. He was probably a good soldier, accurate and swift with his actions, but his carefree personality could get him killed one day. Unless he was one of your soldiers, being laid-back was not a good omen for the near future. He was pretty cute though, and you could see why the major liked him. 

However, the next officer was not something you were expecting, and jerked your point of interest. Your eyes widened and your jaw stiffened as you read the files of one particular recruit, and found yourself aggravatingly stuck trying to dissect this person.

Vampire, blue eyes, rifle with curved stock. A playful childish grin was adorned on her face, like a flirtatious puzzle with the dynamics of a stereo. Long dark hair that signified certain femininity, but a power suit that initiated an overpowering aura. All these observations, and yet you could not make heads nor tails of them. You were completely cemented, and no amount of brain power could pick apart this weave. 

Her name was Rip Van Winkle, and all of a sudden, you were momentarily taken over by a wave of confusion.


	6. Foolhardy Blue

‘Hey, Dingdong, take a look at this.’ Your eyes carved into the papers to no prevail.

‘Woah, who’s this?’ Cheongdong stared wide-eyed at the vampire on the documents. Her frivolous grin that gave you shivers in your stomach had you stumped for immediate decisions. ‘Hm, she’ll be at the meeting tonight.’

You now sincerely dreaded the idea of going to that place. But it was already decided, and you were to go down to the building at 6:45 pm this evening.

For the rest of the day, until the evening, all you had to do was make sure the plan was solid and relax. Cheongdong was already asleep in your bed after boring himself with the documents, but you… you just couldn’t stop looking at this vampire. A strange specimen that had you hooked. Weirdly enough, you weren’t particularly frustrated, but the whole situation gave you unwanted goosebumps.

You decided to at least try to get some rest before the main task, and so you laid down, and slowly fell asleep to the sound of Cheongdong’s gentle breathing next to you, and the distant hum of nerves gently christening your body. 

You woke up later to Cheongdong clattering around with his steel and redwood Bo staff, polishing it with his spit and the bed sheet. Gross. 5:30 pm. You prepared all the necessary ear pieces and microphones and clipped your weapons to your leather belt. They jingled a bit, but not enough to be noticeable. The familiar sound gave you comfort, and although you weren’t religious, you were glad you were blessed enough to hear this little song sung by the scratched, shiny steel.

You buttoned up your coat, only to find that it was far too hot, and so you let it open as to allow the evening wind to flow through it. At around 6:00 pm, you switched on the earpieces and microphone, and finally, much to her relief, connected through to Integra.

After the usual obscenities about not connecting through at the usual time and being unorganised etcetera, it was time to find the place. A pretty open place in the city, open enough to not look suspicious, so it should be a breeze to find. You and Cheongdong had custom earpieces for eachother so it was easy to communicate on short notice. You hooked them up, and you were ready to go. 

Down the street, up the road, and around the corner. Rows and rows of architecturally impressive buildings stood serene, towering above the frantic push of German rush hour. Cars, cyclists, walkers, everyone. By the time you and Cheongdong arrived at the correct building, the buzz would not have died down, making it immensely more difficult to eavesdrop. From what you had heard from Integra, the hall being used was big enough to echo, and so crouching on the cladding of the roof near the windows would allow the sound through whilst keeping yourself from the general public.

You arrived at the building at 6:30. Fifteen minutes to prepare was more than enough time. The streets were now visibly empty, and you realised that you were in a sort of alleyway round the back of the building, which loosened things up a bit. No noise could be heard other than the distant heat of traffic. You looked around for any onlookers, but turned around to find that Cheongdong had already began leaping up to the roof, which was significantly high. You sighed disapprovingly, and kicked away from the floor onto the tight walls of the alleyway, hooking your feet into windows which were already lit up by who you guessed was the janitor, and probably not Millennium. You eventually got to the roof, and pushed yourself up, landing in a crouch. You spotted Cheongdong over by your window of choice, and went to join him.

‘Window’s locked,’ you blatantly stated.

‘Thanks for the input, love. This is where my special skills come into handy.’ Cheongdong was an expert at these fiddly little things, strangely enough, but it had been a great help in the past, so you just let him get on with it. 

He pulled out a lighter and held the flame to the metal fastenings on the window for a minute or so.

‘Hey, careful, the frames made of wood…’

‘Don’t worry, I got this.’ He put the closed lighter in his mouth and used the flattened edge of his Bo staff to gently prize open the window. A few screws came loose and fell inside, making a bit of noise, but it looked like no one had arrived yet. The long, white clothed table had wine glasses and notebooks and pens, ready for the meeting, so it was definitely the right place. Cheongdong was talking to Integra through the earpiece about what you’d seen so far, which was not much, but a test run didn’t do any harm. 

6:41 pm. The sky was nearly completely dark, making you nearly invisible, but the contents through the window crystal clear. You got your tape recorders ready to roll, and kept your weapon close.

‘Ugh, this is soooo boring.’ Cheongdong moaned.

‘We’ve been waiting for like, two minutes, calm down.’ You fiddled with the buttons on the recorder while Cheongdong slouched against the tiles.  
‘Argh, can i put my headphones in, or something?’ He fidgeted.

‘Ha, you wish. Keep an ear out.’ You said that with equal genuine boredom, but you still, no matter how hard you tried to distract yourself with work, couldn’t relieve the agile anxiety caused by the soldier in the files, and it was making you sting with anticipation to get the mission over with. Then…

6:44 pm. Footsteps and affable German accents reverberated through the ajar window. You and Cheongdong nodded at each other, and you clicked on the recorder.


	7. German Riesling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apostrophe key on my keyboard stopped working for some reason, so if you see a dash -, then that means there's speech. xxx

A cluster of footsteps clouded the hall, and you peeked out to see a large handful of German soldiers piling in, including the major and a little werecat, whom you guessed was Schrodinger. Looking closer, you recognised all of the people from the papers, and there was no more, no less. The captain, the Valentino brothers, and some magician-ass looking guy whose name you forgot. There was a few more soldiers from the documents, but you ignored them, since they had no particular skills of significance. 

Then, much to your distaste, along with Zorin Blitz, Rip Van Winkle came into full view, strolling along breezily, her uncomfortably long musket slung over her shoulder, and you felt a pang of jitters. Although the threat was non-existent, you fingers inadvertently curled around the handle at your waist. 

Everyone in the hall took their seats, and you turned to face the buildings opposite you, preferring to listen than face watching them. The typically common welcome, introductions and reviews of the season’s happenings took place, and you also heard them speak of some stuff that had been going on at Hellsing, which you found rather suspicious. You saw Cheongdong asking Integra if she was hearing all this through the microphone. Despite being quite high up, you found the heat getting to you a bit, whether it was from anticipation or your thick wool coat, but the Germanic wind helped keep your temperature stable.

You started to wonder if there was actually any point in this meeting, and whether it was even worth spying on them. 

‘We shall make our grand re-entrance into the world, once again!’

Now that caught your attention. Not just the statement, but the voice that housed the statement. You turned to look. Rip Van Winkle, Millennium’s huntress’ playful, shrill voice made your stomach tight with nerves, but watching her recline back into her chair, waving her rifle around haphazardly was strangely alluring. Much to your shock, she was far more enticing in real life. Her hair was down to her knees and shone with glossy blue light, and her long, slim figure was fit for that of a huntress. Your heart skipped a beat. 

In a flurry of anger, you twitched and clenched your teeth, and the hand around your handle tightened its grip. 

‘Yes,’ the major’s sickening purr spoke out, ‘indeed, we will be announcing our grand return to the mortal world!’ An approving, low cheer went throughout the room.

 

‘How are we supposed to do that?’ said Schrodinger.

‘Yeah, we can’t just come parading in waving the Deutsche Flagge in their faces.‘

A rumble of thick accents mumbled in agreement.

‘Well, you see,‘ the major hushed the room,‘we have caught sight of one of Hellsing’s navy ships, and i was thinking we could give it a little christening, wouldn’t you think?‘

You narrowed your eyes, and Cheongdong murmured into the microphone. How did they know that? Zorin Blitz haughtily asked how he planned on doing that, and he explained briefly his solid idea of raid, invade, and make sure the British are played.

 

-Ooh, sounds fun,- Rip Van Winkle’s high voice resonated in the pit of your stomach. You wanted to hear it more.

-Yes, and you’ll be the one doing the honours, first lieutenant Rip Van. How does that sound?-

She squeeled in delight, like the shriek of a child in water. -When do i leave?-

-Tonight.-

You flinched. You knew the exact whereabouts of the navy ship, and although it was Alucard who would most likely be the one sent over after the supposed christening, you had an inexplicable urge to go. Immediately.

The meeting was dismissed, and all the soldiers filed out. You kept your eyes on Rip Van Winkle until she was out of sight and the hall was empty again. Then you swivelled to face Cheongdong, who was concluding with Integra.  
-I’m going,- you said, and Cheongdong nodded in agreement.

-I’ll tag along too-

And so, you leapt off the roof, and sprinted down to the hangar near the port.


	8. Beautiful Fraulein

By the time you got to the hangar, it was well past the early winter darkness, and so the only good light available was the white glow from the actual hangar. You walked, so as to stay more hidden. A British aircraft was situated just north West of the hangar, well hidden by Cheongdong with permission from the landowner. You felt a bit guilty going against the Germans like this after the favour the landowner granted you, but a wad of cash did the trick.

You’d have to travel up to the English channel where the ship was hanging out before Rip Van Winkle got there, which, in Millennium’s case, was quite soon. As absurd as it seemed, you and Cheongdong ran as fast as your legs could take you to the aircraft, and arrived there in fifteen minutes. You saw the small plane and delved into the little woodland to reach it. As soon as you got there, you fell against it, breathing hard in relief that it was still there, and from fifteen minutes of straight adrenaline fuelled running. 

Cheongdong got to work on the engine and preparations, but he’d left it in good condition since you used it last year, so the worry was insignificant. Although it was safe, there was always the fear that it would be destroyed by Millennium’s prying eyes. You climbed in and strapped yourself in while Cheongdong flicked switches. The rush felt almost unreal, like a membrane of adrenaline and anticipation over the usual carefree you, and as the aircraft lifted from the ground, you tried to calm your nerves.

The small Moth Minor, generously provided by the royal air force and navy, glided swiftly through the berlin breeze, and you sat back, keeping the surreal atmosphere at bay. And although you far from failure, the omnipresent sensation in your gut refused to acquiesce. You were well aware that both you and Rip Van Winkle wouldn’t arrive at the navy ship until the early hours of the morning, but you were still agonizingly aware of how advanced the German Military were with their aircrafts, so you kept your guard up and your eyes open.

The silence was serene, and the steady rumble of the engine generated a harmonious rhythm, like the lowest note of a double bass being stroked with a bow. Cheondong’s hands embraced the steering wheel, everything was placid, and all you could think about was how tired you were. So, so tired. All you wanted to do was sleep in peace. Renew all of the sleep lost because of wars and rivalries.

‘’It is good that war is so horrible, or we might grow to like it.’’

You stared at the empty space in front of you, washed with the faint glow of moonlight. The metal of the weapons at your waist reflected the luminosity, and the stark contrast strained your eyes. 

One hour.

Two hours.

Three hours.

Time went by, and the silence was sedate as ever, and you were phlegmatic as ever, the still scenery alleviating your unease. Then, the sight you had been both anticipating and apprehending materialized into view. The eternal, bloodless prairie, the sea, glistened with welcome, and you softened at the expression Cheondong gave it. A young spirit and passion glittered in his dark eyes at the thing he loved so. His previously blank expression was replaced with fondness and zeal, and for once, you were glad to be on this mission, just to see him like this.

Eventually, the ship finally appeared, and the loving excitement you both felt before turned into the intimate excitement to fight. The deck appeared empty, and so that was a good sign. You were aware that Millennium may be looking at the radar around the ship, but you dismissed the thought for now.

Cheongdong landed in a secluded area, and you both hopped out, ready to observe. But you weren’t at all there to observe Millennium’s actions as such, but instead Millennium’s bait, First Lieutenant, Rip Van Winkle.


	9. Samiel

After about an hour, you were both wondering if anyone was actually gonna turn up. You’d spoken to the captain of the ship, and were keeping your eyes on a purple skinned crew member. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but he seemed a bit…wrong. You decided to take out your earpiece for some more free movement, and sat on the cabin roof, your navy blue coat camouflaged by the silken ultramarine of the ocean.

Then the silence was broken by something horrifying. Grotesque screams echoed over the deck and blood spattered across the cabin window after cries of an unidentified helicopter approaching. You and Cheongdong leapt up and checked the cabin to find the purple skinned dude with his teeth sunk into one of the dead soldiers. Your forehead creased. All the crew members were bitten; Killed by the vampire. But as expected, they were rising again, this time as weak ghouls. Just as you were speculating how he got on board, the obvious sound of a helicopter could be heard, and you quietly rushed onto deck to see a helicopter landing across the other side of the boat. You both braced yourselves.

Peering from behind the main cabin, the one and only Rip Van Winkle stepped on board, and the helicopter stopped. Your heart leapt to your throat, and you cursed your damn interest in the thing.

‘These hunting grounds are for me, the hunter; my warhead will make no distinction between riffraff.’ Her high pitched voice only made you dizzier with her Prussian blue clarity amongst the grey.

From behind her, the purple-skinned vampire and his newly made ghouls approached and welcomed her. She merely penalized him for his betrayal and manslaughter, which I thought was a rather ironic thing for her to say. The vampire stuttered, and she turned to him, her musket facing them. A beautiful musket, you thought, but that thought was abolished when she spoke in angry pity. 

‘If your business is done, then hurry and die, limey.’ A lusty BANG came from her gun, and they were dead. As a British citizen, you were jokily offended by her insult, but soon forgot it when more ghouls appeared out of who-knows-where and started attacking her from all directions. She shot them dead with the most peculiar bullet you’d ever seen. It zoomed around like a kid on LSD and followed the target as she willed it to. ‘I am the hunter, Rip Van Winkle; my warhead makes no distinction between riffraff.’

You were starting to find her little catchphrase a tad annoying, but when she pulled out a paintbrush, you were never more confused by a vampire in your life, and you had to deal with Alucard when you were down in London! She dragged the paintbrush in the corpses of the ghouls and proceeded to paint a huge swastika on the deck. Again, you were rather offended as a British citizen, but you weren’t judgemental towards others. Cheongdong took pictures and sent them to Integra, and you laid low in the shadows, rest easy that no-one would see you. 

Throughout the night and into the morning, there wasn’t much going on, just more waiting for something interesting to happen. You and Cheongdong were both itching for a fight, but there was no apparent evidence that there would be one in the near future. 

At some point in the morning, you felt yourself drifting to the constant sound of Rip Van Winkle shooting down airplanes. Cheongdong warned Integra to not send anymore helicopters over, and you fell asleep.

You consciously dreamt of home, back up in Harrogate. You saw Chris, and Dhelaria, and most importantly, you saw Alistair. You saw him running up to you, greeting you excitably after a long mission. You dreamt of your perfect life with your team, your family, your favourite people in the world. And again, you woke up to Cheongdong shaking your shoulder. It was dark again, and the light came from the cabin and the remains of the shot down helicopters. 

Rip Van winkle was laying on the deck, her legs in the air singing, and you gulped. Her voice was angelic. Smooth, fluent and wholesome. Your heart sped up. Then she screamed. A scream of fear. And the name she screamed, was Samiel. You knew exactly who that was, and prepared for a good show.


	10. Jezail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Khopesh- an Egyptian/middle eastern sword with a curved blade; if you've read Rick Riordan's 'Kane Chronicles', you'll know what this is
> 
> Miststuck- German equivalent of bitch/bastard

You hopped backwards and crouched on the edges of the highest cabin, farthest from where Rip Van Winkle was, and observed next to Cheongdong as Alucard’s ship came crashing through the air at a strenuous velocity, straight towards deck, while Rip Van Winkle panicked. You were really interested in how she’d handle this. You gazed intensely at her, examining her every move. The more she moved, the harder your fingers clutched the handles of your blades. Then, Alucard collided with the deck, and all you could taste was orange flames. You shielded yourself with your coat, and you and Cheongdong came out mostly unharmed, lest a few blisters and scratches from the flying scraps of metal. Whyy did he have to come? He was only going to be stranded here for a few days. You cursed Integra’s idiocy at sending him, as if you couldn’t handle it.

He stepped out of the wreckage, and annihilated the poor ghouls that had only been ghouls for a day or so before joining Alucard’s forced little blood army of his. Your eyes followed Rip Van Winkle as she ran away behind the cabin, just under you. A feeling of guilt took you as you heard her terrified sobs from below you, and you bit back a frown when you saw Alucard walking towards her. You kept your eye on him so he didn’t do anything rash.

A harsh alarm clock blared, making you jump. It smashed into smithereens when Alucard stepped on it, and Rip Van Winkle cried out. Some inaudible dialogue was shared between the two, but Cheongdong recorded it and saved it for later. Suddenly, unexpectedly, she wiped her eyes, got up, and loudly threatened Alucard. How very…gutsy of her. You narrowed your eyes.

‘I AM RIP VAN WINKLE. AND MY WARHEAD WILL MAKE NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN RIFFRAFF!’ And she fired one of her rare blue bullets. Your palms sweated and your joints ached from her bold statement, and your eyes were stuck to her like they had separation anxiety, and the way her body curved when she pointed her musket at him made them cloud over. But the hype didn’t last long, and Alucard caught the bullet in his mouth with a bone-rattling clink. You heard Cheongdong complain about how unfun this fight was, but you ignored him. All you could see was the unholy fear on her face. He hit her jaw, and grabbed her gun. You flinched. You guessed that Cheongdong could likely tell what you were planning, but was waiting to see how it all spanned out. 

Alucard pinned her up against the wall of the cabin and plunged the musket straight through her heart. That did it. You leapt down, unhooking your two blades from your waist while you were in mid-jump, revealing two khopesh, deadly and sharp, and hooked them around Alucard’s neck, pulling him back before he bit her. She cried out in surprise and Alucard relaxed his grip.

‘Oh, I thought you’d left already,’ Alucard grinned as you held your blade to his throat. Although it wouldn’t kill him, you could certainly restrain him.

‘Leave. Now.’

‘I’m sorry, but I have direct orders from Integra.’

‘Well tell Integra that your orders have changed. Cheongdong.’ He spoke to Integra through the microphone about Alucard’s change of plan. Alucard dropped Rip Van Winkle, leaving her coughing and spluttering and panting.

‘Fine, fine, whatever you say, I’m taking your Moth though.’ He wandered off and lifted off deck, heading back to London.

She was trembling with shock. You crouched down to her and pulled the gun out of her chest. She yelped in pain, but continued to shiver. You gulped.

‘Cheongdong, take us to Portsmouth.’

‘Gotcha.’ Cheongdong ran to the blood stained cabin and got to work. You turned to face Rip Van.

‘First Lieutenant Rip Van, huh?’ You put your fingers under her chin to lift her face up, and when she looked up at you, her eyes widened in shock. She stared for a second or two, but then grabbed your arm to bite. She was a fast vampire, but you were always faster. You knocked her down to the floor and pinned her there, twisting her arm behind her back. ‘Not so fast, Rip Van Winkle.’

‘Get your hands off me, you dirty limey!’ She sneered.

‘Hey, that low key hurts, don’t make fun of my heritage. Plus, you’re not one to talk, you’re a fucking Nazi.’ She hissed at you, but stopped struggling. ‘Now, we’re taking you back to England, ok?

‘Do not take me anywhere near that miststuck, Hellsing.’ Her Germanic accent made your face soften.

‘Oh, don’t worry, we’re not going there. We’re going back to my special place.’ She turned to look at you, and you grinned, making her grit her teeth.

‘Hey, dingdong, how long d’you think it’s gonna take?’ You called out to the cabin.

‘ ‘bout two hours, or so?’

‘Cool, thanks!’ You let go of her, and she lifted her torso, so she was leaning on her hands, then coughed, a load of blood spilling out of her mouth.

‘Oh, dear,’ you held her face with your thumb and finger, wiping at the blood, ‘we should fix this.’

She swatted your hand away and glared in the other direction. Then she grabbed her gun and pointed it at you. You raised your eyebrows as she fired, and did a backhand spring to your right, narrowly missing the bullet on purpose, and swiftly came up behind her and held her throat in the curve of your blades. The glint of metal made her recoil. Clipping your khopesh back onto your waist, you walked towards her and looked at the hole in her breast.

The wound was seeping blood, dark and rough like sludge. But she refused to budge, no matter how much you coaxed her into it. Although she probably wouldn’t die, being a vampire and all, you certainly didn’t want her leaving blood everywhere and making you cringe every time you saw her, so you had no other choice. One crack later, and she was out.


	11. Starlight Ship

‘Cheongdong, do vampires heal easily?’

‘Yeah, but with a wound like that, it’ll probably need stitching.’ Cheongdong manned the wheel from the power room, and the night was nebulous as ever, light dabs of late clouds texturing the sky. You’d carried Rip Van to the cabin, close to Cheongdong, and brought up a few supplies. You brought out the stuff needed for stitching and put your handful of years at medical school to use. You washed your hands, laid out the equipment, and sat on the sofa she was lying on, close to the wound. You cringed at the sight of the bloody flesh, but dealt with it and got started.

Unbuttoning her blazer and undoing her tie, you looked up at her unconscious face, and your heart went into overdrive. Her freckles matched her youthful demeanour, and her European lips were delicately shaped like a flower. Up close, she was truly beautiful, through your eyes, at the very least. You unbuttoned her bright pink shirt, and opened it up to reveal the most perfect pale skin you’d ever come across. Even softer and fairer than Cheongdong’s Korean skin, and you drifted your fingers across the surface of it, smudging a bit of blood onto the clean canvas. 

Coming back to reality, you wetted a gauze with water and cleaned up the excess blood stains around the wound, and came across a problem. To actually get to the wound properly, you’d have to remove her bra. Stiffening your gait, you hooked your fingers around the fabric and pulled it down around her slim waist. Goosebumps formed on your own skin at the feel of hers, but you soldiered on. Her small breasts were as pale and soft, and you wanted nothing more than to touch them. You turned to the hole and bit your lip. Holding a disinfectant soaked gauze to the wound slowly, she woke up, sucking in through her teeth.

‘Hurts!’ She exclaimed, clenching her eyes shut again. When she opened them again, she saw you, and flipped. ‘St- get-get off me, limey!’

You continued to hold the gauze down hard, and press down on her shoulder to still her. ‘Y’know, I’d appreciate it if you’d stop calling me that, I mean, I’m not calling you a goose strutting Nazi am I, now?’ You wiped the hole a gently, removing most of the blood and completely disinfecting it as she wriggled around uncomfortably.

‘Stop it!’ She fidgeted more, baring her fangs.

‘Hey, stop fidgeting, you’re making it worse, plus, if I don’t do this, it’ll get infected.’

‘Enjoying yourself, dear?!’ Cheongdong called from the deck, looking amused.

‘Fuck off, yeah?’ You smiled at him. Rip Van glared.

You smiled sweetly at her, and the look of disgust on her face made you snort. She scratched your face with her gloved nail, drawing blood, but you continued to smile. You finished the last stitch and patched up the cut, pressing firmly on the soft flesh, biting the inside of your cheek.

‘Ok, we’re done now. You can bugger off if you want, just stay on the ship.’ She did up her shirt, leapt up and hurried away. ‘Oh, and if you do try to escape, I can absolutely guarantee that we’ll find you!’

She hissed again and strutted out of the door, taking her musket with her. Her bloodstained blazer was crumpled and dirty, but you picked it up anyway and packed it into your bag to wash later when you got home. Up in the control room of the cabin, you could see Cheongdong gently manning the huge ship demonstrating his mechanical and machinery talent, which warmly comforted you, and you went up to join him.

‘Enjoying the view?’ you asked.

‘Yeah, it’s beautiful.’ He glazed the sea, starlight in his dark eyes. ‘You looked like you were enjoying the view a minute ago, too.’ He grinned. You were confused, but then realised he was talking about Rip Van’s chest. Before you got the chance to knee him in the face, he said that we’d have twenty minutes or so until we got to the port in Portsmouth, so you went to the roof of the cabin where you were earlier, and sat on the edge. Rip Van Winkle was leaning over the edge of the rails, and you watched her tall, slim body washed in the moonlight. Her legs were really long, making her a bit taller than you, but you were still stronger. Thinking about her little outburst earlier made you laugh inwardly. 

After five minutes of observing, you went down onto the deck and leaned over the railing next to her. She turned in shock, the scowled when she saw it was you. Before she could make any remarks about your nationality, you held a blood pack that you’d found in the medical room earlier up to her face. She looked at it, but turned to face the other way. 

‘Come on, you haven’t drank any for over a day, just be good, yeah.’

‘How long have you been watching me?’ She demanded, rightfully suspicious.

‘Since before you landed on the ship.’ You stated, indifferent. ‘We did a bit of observation, if you will.’

She scrunched her eyebrows and snatched blood pack out of your hand. You smiled and watched whilst she gently suckled on the pouch. 

‘The sea is a mighty harmonist.’ The mediocre wind was like narcotics on your face, and when Rip Van glanced at you in confusion, you smiled meaningfully to yourself.

Just like a child, you thought, as the coast of England appeared, fresh, clean and glittering.


	12. Contradiction

Five years ago. A time of experimentation in both your fighting and willpower. Each day passing by in the purgatory, unsure of which way to go. Your steel blades slicing through the criminal and innocent upon request. Still unsure, skills ever in between, but a small mission to kill one person, caused you to gain and lose. However, one thing was for sure, your gains were solid, and you both treasured and discarded that day, because it shamed and empowered you, five years ago, as the skilled fighter. And yet, compared to now, those skills were merely that of a new born. 

You were after a drug lord. The typical illegal business of importing and exporting for stupid amounts of money. You were kindly asked to take out the guy by the queen’s secret police for your own stupid amount of money. You were bribed easy, as you are today, but at least everyone else knew of your power, both now and then. This drug lord resided in Sweden, Stockholm, to be more precise. The capital, full of culture, life and criminal activity. Most suitable for a European thug. 

After grazing through the nightlife of the beautiful city, you uncovered the small little staircase and wooden door. Dressed your most beautiful, you pushed open the door to reveal an exquisite high-class lounge area, warmly lit up, soft, drawling jazz playing in the background. A sexy environment. You honestly felt like James Bond, sneaking around the upper-classes’ play area, but it was a job to be done, and hell, you were being paid a sweet fortune. With optimum skin showing, but a teasing amount covered, you glided over to a patch of stark white, where the Drug Lord sat, swarmed with expensive women and champagne, a smug grin on his face. But you felt nothing. Typical hitman; feels nothing and kills for money. Ha. Pitiful. But a job was a job, and maybe you’d make it home in time to feed the cats on schedule, maybe. 

Sweden had no conflict with England, the Queen just wanted this guy out of the way. A common request for you. You’d even forgotten his name, but there was no worry. He caught you eye and winked, getting up. The women squirmed, agitated, but he held a hand up and they calmed down. Walking towards you, you smiled, and he licked his lips. White skin, white hair, green eyes. No words needed, what he was going to do was clear. And still, you got it all wrong.

During this period of time, five years ago, you were not as strong as you were now, and lithe, agile movements were not handy in a small room, so the strength of a fully grown man overpowered you.

You overestimated yourself out of sheer validation, and it was humiliating. All you could do was pretend you weren’t nearly as excruciatingly defeated as you definitely were…

You sliced him when it was all over. The job was done. But you couldn’t help but feel overwhelmingly defeated. You got your routinely fortune and left. All you could do was train and train and train. Train until you exhausted yourself. Train until every nerve in your body begged for the end. Train until the guilt was all gone. Just… train. And like that, you were physically impenetrable, pun not intended. You knew you were undefeatable, and you always had been, because of your current and forever state, but now, you couldn’t be flicked. 

All that mattered where the friends you made, your family, your army, and you were ok. 

Three months later, you found out you were pregnant, and seven months after that, you gave birth to your child. 

That was four years ago. And now, you were heading back to your army, and you couldn’t be happier.


	13. Ultramarine

At the harbour in Portsmouth, there was some mild hustle and bustle at the state of the ship, and after some negotiating and proof of identity, you were ok to leave the ship to the military. The army base a few miles west took it in for examination and you were ready to go. Getting Rip Van off was a bit of trouble, since she was less than compliant, but you found a way around it. Holding her by her wrist, you pulled her along while she struggled to no avail. It was rather amusing, but you held in your laughter for the sake of your blood. In the other hand, you held the keys to one of the military cars which you had free access to, and would drive north east to London Kings Cross. The traffic would be hectic, yes, but it was the easiest option, since the trains from Portsmouth to Harrogate went way out of your way.

You agreed to drive the two hours, and so you stuffed Rip Van in the back with Cheongdong and a couple of blood packs, and got in. Her musket was in the front seat, decadently waiting to be held while you turned the key and revved the engine. You decided to make some small talk while you drove.

‘So, Rip Van Winkle, why are you so scared of Alucard?’

‘None of your business!’ she hissed, reaching for her gun, which was still in the front seat, and Cheondong slapped her hand away.

‘Hey, I was just asking,’ you looked in the rear view mirror to see her sulking and Cheongdong looking like he was having fun. You laughed at her crossed arms and facing the window. Just like a child. 

‘I saw him during the first war,’ she started, ‘it didn’t end well.’

‘Oh, what happened?’ Cheongdong asked, curious. She hissed again, and you were a bit pensive at her on-going habit.

‘He recognised me as the enemy before I did.’

‘Why?’

She mumbled something, and Cheongdong demanded she speak louder, and you found the daunting situation had a rather relaxing atmosphere, although you weren’t so sure Rip Van thought the same.

‘I got my glasses mixed up with someone else’s and I couldn’t see him.’ Her face contorted in embarrassment and you and Cheongdong burst out laughing. You almost swerved the car at her strange reason for fear. ‘DON’T YOU LAUGH AT ME, YOU DIRTY LIMEYS!’ She screeched, and you continued laughing, causing her to fume. 

‘Haaahh, that’s amazing,’ Cheongdong wiped his eye in mocking amusement.

‘Aww, bless.’ you cooed.

A few angry minutes went by, and you remembered her wound. You clenched your fingers around the steering wheel thinking about her tall, nimble body, and how soft her pale skin was, and how enrapturing the freckles across her small breasts were. 

‘How’s your cut?’ you asked weakly. She trailed her hand across her breast, over the stitches, and you gulped. Cheongdong glanced at you through the mirror, puzzled.

‘I-it’s fine.’ She turned her head and flushed, obviously confused at the sudden spark of interest.

The rest of the journey was fairly quiet, Rip Van’s embarrassment being the main cause of that, and your heart refused to stop beating so hard every time you looked in the rear view mirror. 

Eventually, you arrived at Kings cross and parked the car in the nearest hellsing property, then took Rip Van by the wrist and went to get your tickets. She still wriggled about defiantly, which made the short walk all the more annoying, but it was fine all in all. She kept reaching towards her gun, which Cheongdong held firmly in his hand, and you would jerk her away from it. She was like a child reaching towards her toy, which wasn’t far from the truth.

Despite it being the wee hours of the morning, the station was already excited with the beginnings of early rush hour, bright and energetic, and a terrible place for an agitated vampire, but you were damned if you were gonna drive five hours up north. You got a few perplexed looks from passer-by’s at the huge musket Cheongdong was carrying and your somewhat aggressive manoeuvring of Rip Van, but you eventually got on the train and sat down. You weren’t exactly expecting it to be this difficult, but you really wanted to bring her back with you, and at least your bizarre determination got you this far. You felt your heart stop when you thought Alucard was going to consume her, and you were ever glad you jumped in at the right time.

The offbeat sensation that you began to experience at some point between seeing her on the documents and taking her from Alucard didn’t seize, and whenever you looked at those ultramarine eyes that shone with anger and fear, and saw the supple, pale skin on her collarbone, your throat constricted, and your heart would go into overdrive. Occasionally, you’d see Cheongdong looking at you funny, like he suspected something, and you wouldn’t be surprised if he did. His perceptive skills were far too Avant-guard for his own good, but he kept quiet, and once again, the silence allowed the journey to continue on in a way that was almost peaceful.


	14. Devilment

As the rolling hills and valleys and your favourite may green moors went by, bright and fresh, you thought of Rip Van’s reaction to you asking if her sutures were alright. The swift blush across her freckled cheeks and nose and the scrunching of her forehead showed a different variety of emotion you weren’t expecting. Picking apart her reaction, there were plenty of reasons you could come up with, but you were far too coy to develop them further, and mindfully tried to forget about them.

You had placed her between yourself and the window, sort of like a cage, and she lay against the window, glaring angrily at the hay bales. Eventually, the sun started to peak out, and when a ray hit the window, Rip Van flinched and jerked right into you, causing your heart and stomach to flutter. You stared directly at her, and she stared back, unsure of what to do. Right, vampires can’t handle the sun.

You regained your composure and threw your coat over her, covering the top half of her body and her head. ‘Enthusiastic now, are we?’ you taunted, still feeling her supernatural warmth on your chest.

She stared at you strangely, and again, you lost your composure. ‘W-what is it?’ you asked timidly.

Then, she turned a furious red and sharply turned her head forward, only to be faced with an entertained Cheongdong. She stared him down, and when he didn’t stop smiling, gave up.

‘How do you two know eachother?’ She demanded. Although she feigned indifference, she was obviously curious.

‘We went to school together in Korea, although she was only doing it for a mission and turned out to be five years older than me.’ Cheongdong reminisced. You spoke of your school days, and the mission and your strong friendship which formed the most elite pairing.

Eventually, Cheongdong started to complain about being hungry, so he weirdly pulled out a pack of sliced bread. You looked at him subdued awe, then remembered that this was Cheongdong, and leaned back in your seat. You also noticed Rip Van pulling out one of the blood pack you’d nicked from the ship. 

‘We all eating now, are we? Great.’ You weren’t particularly hungry, plus, you were planning on eating when you got home, though with Cheongdong’s appetite, he’d probably be able to stomach both meals. You warmed up inside, like fuzzy wool at the thought of seeing your friends again, and sighed contentedly. 

Innately watching Rip Van quietly sucking on the pouch was as enticing as an intricate dance routine. Although the act was far from intricate, you couldn’t help but find appeal in it, the way her bold, German lips wrapped around the pouch, long vampiric tongue caressing the plastic. You could almost be jealous of the packet. 

Consequently, you turned to face Cheongdong, remembering that you had actual work to do. You were also dreading the call with Integra, later to talk about everything that had occurred the past couple of days, and you were pretty sure she wasn’t going to be too happy. You hadn’t spoken to her in at least a day, but if you wanted your money and your dignity, you were safer to make the call as soon as possible. But first, you needed to go over the notes you’d collected.

‘Grand return into this mortal world, artificial vampires, blah blah blah. Is this guy ok?’ Cheongdong looked through the notes you’d both taken with incredulity. 

‘Who knows? Hey, Rip Van, is your commanding officer alright?’ You asked as a joke, but was apparently taken too seriously.

‘He is the major, a glorious leader, and I will not have you speaking ill of him!’ She declared while you and Cheongdong suppressed your laughter.

‘Ok, that’s cool, we’ll just put you down as a prisoner of war, if that’s alright with you, then we won’t get any suspicious looks. I doubt anyone would dare come after you in our little jungle gym.’ You felt a little guilty for tormenting her, but seeing her flustered face, how could you not.

‘No need, I’ll escape just fine.’

‘Are you sure?’ You eyed her sideways, a mischievous glint sparking up.

‘Absolutely. I’m the best of the best of the best.’

‘Hmm, okay…’

The suspicion in her blue eyes grew broader, and she straightened her back, as if bracing herself for something. Cheongdong also looked like he was figuring out how much she actually knew about our team.

A minute or two of silence went by as you continued to evaluate your notes.

‘I’ll call Integra when we get back home.’ You said, tucking the papers away.

‘Yeah, sounds like a plan.’ He looked at Rip Van, who was sulking under your coat. ‘Are you gonna put our ‘prisoner of war’ in a lock room, or in one of the normal rooms?’

‘Hmm, since she’s not actually a prisoner of war, and more like something that I wanted, I think I’ll put her in a normal room.’

‘Ooh, which one, I can call up Dill to prepare one?’

‘How about, the one next to mine?’ You grinned wide at her outrage. ‘Yeah, how ‘bout that?’

Cheongdong nodded and dialled up the number, making the arrangement. You now felt the buzz of excitement at the thought of teasing Rip Van Winkle more, and couldn’t wait to see her gorgeous face everyday.


	15. Flower town

The train halted, and you stepped onto the platform to the beautiful flower town of Harrogate. It was mildly busy, with the usual day-to-day activities, and the sky was bright and blue. Rip Van looked odd walking around with your coat over her head, but it was all for a good cause, and the weirder thing was probably the huge curve stock musket that Cheongdong was carrying, but you assumed that people had the decency to just not ask questions, and your military ID was whipped out when security got involve. No problem at all.

Dill, your bubbly and friendly house keeper, was waiting in the car park with an attention magnet of a car, a shiny black Maybach, freshly washed to the point of eye-roll. You sighed and shook your head, and Dill continued to grin like an idiot, leaning against the bonnet with his janitor’s uniform on and a retractable mop clipped to his waist. Real classy.

You walked up to him and gave him a quick hug and a thank you for all the preparations, and got in. Cheongdong sat in the passenger seat while you sat in the back with Rip Van next to you, coat still over her head. Again, you suppressed your laughter, since you did want your blood. She looked less miserable, but for some unknown reason, she was more restless looking, like something was on her mind. You asked what was wrong.

‘Ze major hasn’t heard from me in days.’ She said, gloomy. Of course. Her commanding officer was probably wondering what the hell happened a few days ago. Nothing had gotten back to Millennium, you assumed, and you supposed that neither Alucard nor Integra would rather like to speak to the Nazis. 

‘You can give ‘im a call when we get to the house, it’s a ten minute drive from the station, so it shouldn’t be too long.’

She bared her teeth angrily, and you smiled luminescently.

‘So, who’s our guest today?’ Dill queried merrily.

‘Oh, this is our little friend, Rip Van Winkle, but we’re pretending she’s a prisoner of war. I collected her off of some ship.’ You mused

‘Ooh, sounds fun.’ Dill said, ‘So she’s not a prisoner of war?’

‘No, no, no, I just wanted to take her back with us.’

‘Haha, people aren’t just objects, you know, vampire or not.’

Rip Van mumbled something in agreement.

‘Don’t worry, we’ll treat you well.’ Once again, you made the mistake of looking directly into her eyes, and you both flinched away, and when Dill noticed, Cheongdong muttered something to him and he nodded in understanding, still cheery as ever.

After driving through about half a mile of sun woven woodland, the car pulled into the driveway with a crunch of gravel, and above you, glimmering in the late summer sun, was your precious Harrogate townhouse. A beautiful English manor with forty bedrooms for your team, a comfy lounge and three training rooms for sports, fighting and sharp objects. 

‘My baby!’ you ran out of the car, making a scene about the whole thing, and jazz hand introduced your precious home to Rip Van, who just stared at it in confusion and muttered something about it being too English. You opened the grand mahogany doors, and cried out that you were home. 

You were instantly greeted by a few members of the manor, Luca and Chris, some of the longer standing members.

‘Heeeyyy, you were ages,’ Chris whined, ‘were you planning on leaving us?’

‘Nah, no need to worry about that, I just did a little detour, but the job was done.’ You ushered Rip Van into the house, and she shuffled uncomfortably on her feet.

‘Woah, she’s tall, who’s this?’ Luca asked kindly.

‘This is Rip Van, a member of millennium,’ they flinched at the metion of Millennium, but you assured them it was absolutely safe. With their experience and skills, they wouldn’t have much trouble if she lashed out. ‘I’ll do a proper introduction at dinner, but first, I need to make a phone call to Integr-.’

You were cut off when the familiar excited screech of someone important called out Cheongdong’s name, who was already on his way to the weaponry to store Rip Van’s musket. A small mound of white went up to hug Cheongdong, and you smiled in relief. The little figure came running up to you and embraced you heartily. Long platinum blond hair, fair skin, pale green eyes.

‘Who-?’ Rip Van began, confused when the little thing looked at her in awe.

‘This, is my son, Alistair. He’s four.’ You proudly declared. Rip Van’s eyes widened in shock, and Alistair walked over to her, full of curiosity, and stared. Rip Van’s face filled with emotion, and much to yours, Dill’s and Cheongdong’s revelation, she crouched down to his height and introduced herself. At first, Alistair looked horrified, then, again to your surprise, he widened into a jovial smile and wrapped her in a hearty hug.

You were at a complete loss for words. Who would’ve thought that she would be so soft with children? Then you remembered how she acted, and how it reminded you of a child. You laughed aloud. ‘Well, I’ve got to go make a phone call, and Cheongdong, I think I’ll keep the gun in my room.’ You winked at Rip Van, who was having her hair stroked by your son. He hooked his arms around her neck, and she lifted him up. It was all very unexpected, but you headed up to your office and dialled the number.

‘Hey, Integra, sorry for not contacting you sooner.’ You got your documents out and began explaining the problem.

\--------------------------------------------------------

‘So, Millennium are planning an attack on the Hellsing mansion, are they? Well, I guess we’ll have to prepare for that.’

‘Yes, and be careful, one of the soldiers has this weird manipulative power that can see into people’s memories, I think, I’ll ask Rip Van about it.’

‘Oh yes, who is this Rip Van Winkle that you took back with you. Alucard told me about the change of plans. I was very confused when he came flying in on Cheongdong’s aircraft. Why did you bring back a member of Millennium, and what are you planning? I fucking hope you aren’t going to do anything out of hand.’

‘Woah, woah, calm down, dear,’ you chuckled, ‘I brought her back because she interested me.’ You felt Integra twitch on the other side of the phone. ‘Don’t worry, I’m more than capable of defending myself against her.’

‘That’s…not what I’m worried about.’

You sighed. ‘…I know what you’re worried about, but I can only wait to see what happens, and whatever happens, I’ll let it happen. I do have a job to do.’

‘But-.’

‘Integra, we’re not together anymore, and I know it hurts, but whatever you do to stop me, I’ll still always protect you from whatever you need me to protect you from. Any time, any place, I’ll be there, yeah?’

‘Th-thank you.’ Integra’s voice had a slight tremble that made your heart sink. The silence was deafening and made your head pulse.

‘It’s ok, have a good night, ok?’ You said, as softly as possible.

‘You too.’ The phone clicked off, and you put your face in your hands and sighed in concern. You had gone over the notes, but that had taken hours, for some weird reason, and it was already dark, and you hadn’t slept in over a day. You were exhausted, and you wanted to spend some time with your son and your friends.

A knock at your office door made you jump, and you said to come in, and to your surprise, Rip Van winkle pushed open the door and came in.


	16. Leader

She looked very uncomfortable, but she entered and closed the door behind her.

‘Did Dill take you to your room?’ You ushered her into the comfy tub chair next to your office chair.

‘Yes, he did. It’s… a very nice room. A nice house.’ She turned her head away awkwardly, but her facial features were much softer than you’d seen them before. Very pretty, yes.

‘That’s a relief. Anyway, what can I help you with?’

She explained that Cheongdong had told her to come see you to make a phone call to the major, since your office had the only untraceable phone in the house, for some reason. She made her call, saying that she was safe, while you lit a cigarette. You doubted that Millennium actually cared. The major was unstable leader with a clinical obsession with war. You blew out a fatigued puff of smoke, leaning back in your chair, and she put the phone down on the receiver.

‘What are they going to do, come after you?’ You raised an eyebrow at the silence that followed.

‘Why did you treat me so well? I mean, I’m an enemy of Hellsing, so shouldn’t you-?’

You cut her off. ‘What you need to understand, is that I don’t work for Hellsing, I work with Hellsing. My team does work for groups, gangs and organsations all over the world, even Millennium, in the past, and only for secret missions. I have no reason to treat you like an enemy.’ You were flat and stern, and Rip Van just stared, and for a moment, she looked as vulnerable as she had back on the ship before Alucard tried to take her.

A moment of silence went by, then she spoke up. ‘You have a beautiful child…’ Her eyes wandered to the floor. ‘Does he have a father?’

For a moment, you contemplated on lying, but saw no point, and relaxed into a smile.

‘Dead.’

‘Wha-?’ Rip Van jerked her head up.

‘I killed him.’

‘Why-.’

You looked her dead in the eye, her own blue glimmering with emotion. ‘Alistair was born out of rape. A mission specially picked out for me by the queen herself. The guy I was sent to kill is the biological father.’

Rip Van dipped her head again. ‘My-my apologies.’

‘It’s fine. Plus, Cheongdong has been like a father to him, anyway, and he has the whole team as a family, me as a mother, and that’s all he needs.’

‘You seem very close with your team, do they know about your child’s father?’

‘Yes. They are my family; I trusted and loved them enough for them to know.’

More silence.

You glanced at her, and she was staring at you intently. You lifted one corner of your mouth into a smirk.

Then she narrowed her eyes. ‘Just how powerful are you?’

‘Hm, well, I can be very manipulative, and I pride myself on my trickery. You see, I’m a military strategist.’

‘HA, really? There is no better strategist than ze major.’ Your hands sweated at her determination and resolute statement, and you pushed out of your chair, making her jump up like a dog to it’s owner.

‘You think so?’ She was a head taller than you, but it was clear who was in control.

‘Y-yes. There is no army better than Millennium.’

‘Really now?’ You grabbed her by the collar and pushed her onto the sofa in the corner of the room you’d backed her into. ‘You make a lot of bold statements, you do. You know that, right?’

She protested, but her voice hitched in her throat when you ripped open her blazer and shirt, and pulled her tie off.

‘Stop, what ar-?!’ You closed your hands over her small supple breasts and gripped.

‘Don’t think so highly of yourself, or your precious major. No-one is actually as great as they think they are, ever. Not even him.’ Her face blazed with anger at the last part, but you brought your hands around her back and unclipped her bra and pulled it off, discarding it and changing her expression to passiveness. You caressed the pink nipples with your thumbs, and she cried aloud. Massaging the flesh, you brought your mouth down on her left nipple and ran your tongue over it.

‘Ksh, no!’ Her cries made you itch with desire, but her pleads meant nothing as long as she was still pressing your head down on her very erect nipple. While you worked on her breasts, your right hand travelled down to her suit trousers, which you undid and slid you hand in, directly to the hot skin. You searched for her clit, and when you hit it, her heated body arched up into your hand, creating more friction that made her moan velvet notes.

Your fingertips rubbed and rolled her bud, and your tongue lavished in her melodic taste. Harder, harder, harder and faster, your movements and her voice. Rip Van shook and jerked and twitched, and you growled, deep and low in your throat, a stark contrast between yours and Rip Van’s sounds. One last bite and one last jerk of a finger made her tremble in her orgasm, and her juices coated your hand, powerful and strong.

Her face was adorned with sweat, and her saliva covered chest rose up and down quickly, over and over as she recovered from her orgasm.

Then she looked at you, face full of mixed emotion. ‘Wh-why?’ Her voice shook, but you felt no remorse. Her ignorance had been sorted out, you hoped. 

‘You’re spirited, and your loyalty and belief in your organisation is definite and eye catching.’ You stroked her navel area and cocked your head slightly. ‘But you speak too much, too soon without even daring to understand the situation. That’ll get you killed one day. Your pronounced behaviour even got you supposedly captured by us. Don’t underestimate us. I know you value your leader, but you should always consider all points of view.’

More awestruck silence. She just stared, and before you could apologise and walk out, the question that escaped her mouth made your throat hurt.

 

 

“Why do you look so sad all the time?”

 

 

The tone she said it in was soft, yet the words hurt sharply, and she quietly gasped at your now pained face, before you gritted your teeth and walked out. 'Sleep well, see you in the morning.'

You weren’t angry, you did it as to not cry in front of her. Damn your weak heart.


	17. Saddle heels

Back in your room, Cheongdong had leant Rip Van’s musket against the wall next to your bed. You swallowed when you thought of her name, and the way she writhed in pleasure beneath you, face full of arousal. You clenched your fists. You hypothesized that you may have gone too far in your little lesson. What if you had ruined everything already? Taking the gun in your hand, you sat on the edge of your bed and ran your fingers down it’s length. The barrel was dented and the breech was askew. But still, despite being modelled after a cost efficient gun, it was still beautiful, and made of the finest and most durable materials. A beautiful musket.

Your door edged open, but the slow movement indicated that there was no need to worry, for your son was on the other side. He peeked his little head around the door and you patted your bed. You felt a little guilty looking at him after what you did to Rip Van, but he closed the door and hopped up on your bed and cuddle up to you.

‘Hey darling, you alright?’ Your heart filled to the brim with love at his tiny figure, which was actually smaller than average, and you pulled him close, his little heartbeat steady and warm. 

‘Yeah, I missed you when you were gone.’ He squeezed you tighter and your eyes stung with tears.

‘I missed you too baby, were you good to everyone?’

‘Yes, I went to school every day and ate everything Dhelaria cooked for us.’

‘Good boy, tomorrow, we’ll go for a walk and pick some flowers, yeah? How does that sound?’ You rested your cheek on his long, fluffy hair, and he nuzzled your neck, still holding you close.

‘That sounds really nice. Can Rip come with us, too?’ Your heart fluttered at the name, but you said yes.

‘Do you like Rip Van?’ You asked your son.

‘Yes, I really like her, and she has really pretty hair.’ Her long black hair, tinted blue in the moonlight. It was very pretty.

‘That’s good, because she’ll be staying with us for a while, and you’ll be able to see her every day.’

He looked up like he suspected something, but then broke into a huge, loveable grin and hugged you, before burying himself under your covers. You relaxed, knowing Rip Van would never hurt a child.

‘Haha, hey, are you planning on staying here tonight?’ He nodded his head and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly, shortly followed by you. The build-up of two sleepless days got to you, and you lay next to your beautiful son, peaceful, with all you needed right there.

 

The next day, you woke up to Alistair buttoning up his shirt, slowly counting down the buttons. You laughed and praised him on his complex number work. It looked like he’d even been able go to his own room to pick out new clothes and bring them back. You tied his shoelaces and told him to go wake Cheongdong up and you got up and got dressed yourself. The day was bright and colourful, like yesterday, but there was more freedom and less to worry about. 

The may green tree outside your window didn’t block the sunlight, but instead added to the spectrum. You looked in your wardrobe and looked at a skater dress of the same colour, and went ahead and wore that. Because of the gentle breeze there appeared to be on the tree branches, you reached for your trench coat, then realised Rip Van still had it. You quickly strapped on your saddle heels, grabbed a parasol and walked down the corridor to Rip Van’s room, where Alistair was already waiting. 

‘You can go on in.’ you prompted him, and he knocked and slid open the door. You were almost scared to see her today. Then, a sharp aura filled the air, and as soon as you had noticed, a deadly dagger was between your fingers. You smiled into the door to see Rip Van angrily waiting for you, you assumed. ‘Ah, Rip Van, you’re up. What a pleasant greeting!’ You remembered what Rip Van had asked yesterday before you left your office and your finger twitched, but you smiled anyway. Alistair trotted over to her, and Rip Van calmed her ferocious expression.

She shot you a glare though as you walked into the room, and you spotted your coat neatly folded on the end of the bed. Neatly folded? Her courtesy was out of place, considering how irked she was with you. You flung it over your shoulder and pocketed the knife for later. She was already dressed and you told her to come down for breakfast. She obviously wanted to go back to Germany, but you couldn’t and wouldn’t allow that just yet, and you were pretty sure she knew that as well. Did she want to go back to Germany? Her compliance had been suspicious enough to convince you otherwise, but you set the thought aside.

‘We’re going for a walk afterwards, so come on.’

Rip Van looked rather irritated at that. ‘What, I can’t go out in the sun, and anyway, I don’t want to.’

‘S’what the parasol’s for, love, plus, Alistair wants you to come, don’t you darlin’.’ Alistair nodded eagerly and tugged on Rip Van’s hand to take her downstairs and they were replaced by Cheongdong who was standing in the doorway yawning.

‘He’s enamoured with her.’ He blandly stated.

‘Yes, he certainly is. They’ll get on great.’

‘You seem enamoured with her as well. And I think I can say the same for her.’

‘Yeah, I suppose…’ It was true. You couldn’t deny the blush that crept up across her face when you entered the room, and the way she always seemed to be averting her gaze from you. But what could you do? You were not much better. 

‘What are you really planning to do with her while she’s here? Why are you so obsessed with her?’ You froze, not daring to turn around. Like you’d said before, Cheongdong was far too perceptive for his own good. ‘Ever since you first saw her you’ve been super weird about her.’ His voice was concerned, and you could see why.

You unfroze and blocked out everything he’d just said. ‘Let’s go down to breakfast, yeah?’

 

Down in the dining room, Dhelaria had set out a hearty breakfast, as usual, and you thanked her before sitting down. Two meals a day, your entire team, if possible, gathered round the dinner table and ate as a family. Obviously, with your jobs, not everyone could always make it, but you all did your best to see each other on a regular basis and treat the place like a family home, which was rightfully what it was. 

Everyone who was there sat down, you at the head of the table with Alistair and Cheongdong at either side of you. Next to Alistair sat Rip Van, looking very uncomfortable and glaring at you. You thought of what Cheongdong had said, but pushed it away as to not ruin the breakfast mood.

‘Hey, introduce us to your new friend,’ said Mo, your martial arts representative.

‘Yeah,’ Dill reciprocated, taking a bite of toast, ‘you weren’t at dinner yesterday, so they didn’t get to meet her.’

‘Ah, yes.’ Everyone’s attention was on you, so you put down your cup of tea. ‘This here is Rip Van Winkle, and I nicked her from Millennium because I felt like it.’

Rip Van clicked her tongue and crossed her arms, but the consecutive warm welcome wasn’t what she was expecting. Everyone greeted her and introduced themselves and asked how she was finding England. Her face was one of complete shock. When had anyone ever treated her like a human before, you wondered. 

You all got on with breakfast, and when Rip Van didn’t eat anything, Alistair asked why. You explained why to everyone, but instead of her telling you to shut up about her identity, she stayed silent. You guessed the friendly first impression of your team had changed her mind on your people.

Everyone nodded and got on with their food. The sheer fact that they were concentrating on the delectably cooked food more than Rip Van’s nature made her stare, awestruck at everyone. You finished your food quickly and got up and stood behind Rip Van, leaning down to her ear.

‘Come with me.’ You whispered, and pulled her by the wrist. You took her into the study room a few rooms away from the dining room for some privacy and sat her down next to you. You held your wrist up to her face. ‘You look pale. Drink.’

‘What?! I can’t do that!’ She pushed your arm away, but you pushed it back again.

‘You can and you will, and you’ll fucking deal with it, ok? We don’t have any blood packs here.’ She tried to put up a fight, but you were always stronger. ‘Just do it, will you?!’ You ended up pushing her down and landed on top of her chest. You took this as the perfect opportunity to shove your wrist into her mouth, and she made a noise as you pressed your flesh up into her fangs.

Her eyes were wide with annoyance, but your cold gaze made her comply, and she held your arm as she sucked on it. You felt yourself flushing at the act, and you swallowed, hard. A minute later, she pulled away, leaving a string of saliva and looked at you, somewhat out of breath. You noticed she was still holding your arm gently, and you shivered. She stared at you in the eyes, full of anger and energy like back on the ship before Alucard came, when she was shooting helicopters down, and then pushed you down so she was on top of you, and much to your bewilderment, started to suck your neck just as she did with your wrist, but now without the teeth.


	18. Roseraie

She had you pinned under her, her knee against your chest, and her grip tight with animosity around your wrists. Her tall frame towered above you, and you were almost scared, but the way she was latched onto your neck, sucking hard, made it difficult to move. You panted, your head thrown back, much to Rip Van’s advantage, and you feebly pushed at her shoulders, but she showed no signs of backing off. Then you caught a glimpse of her face when she pulled her mouth away to your collar. Her face; full of unwanted energy and mania, but still interlaced with panic, like she couldn’t control what she was doing.

But what neither of you noticed until too late, was the open bite marks on your wrists which were seeping blood at an alarming rate, and it was flowing straight from the vein, and the pressure from Rip Van’s grip was pushing the blood towards the opening. You suddenly felt nauseous and your heart rate was hammering. Not too long after, you heard Rip Van cry out and let go. You were dizzy, confused and trembling. The blood loss including the large amount that you had forced her to drink was taking a toll, and you promptly fell into black.

 

Of course. You were here again. You couldn’t expect any less from the dear mind of yours.

Grey. So much grey. An entire landscape of grey. Grey for miles and miles. The echoes of gunfire and crunching of tanks across the terrain could be heard three hundred and sixty degrees. Your comrades were falling and so were the enemy’s troops. But you fought on, the lactic acid burning your legs. But whatever you did, you couldn’t have ever of anticipated the enemy’s next move. Those fucking Nazis had saved up all their grenades and threw them all here. And you were in their line of sight. All you could think of as you fell was ‘those damn Nazis, always thinking of quantity over quality….’ 

You woke up squirming, your jaw aching from clenching your teeth. You were in and out of black and white, and regaining your composure was out of the question. Then you felt a hand on your shoulder, and you screamed a wet scream, saliva dripping from the corner of your mouth like some kind of animal. That hand held your throat and the other pinned your hands while you calmed down and gathered your bearings.

Your eyes finally flew open, and you lay still, silently gasping. You called out to Cheongdong, and your best friend was holding your throat and hands, obviously restraining you from hurting anyone.

Then you turned your head the other way, and in your current state, the Nazi symbol around Rip Van’s neck made you cling onto Cheongdong and weep. Cheongdong nodded at Rip Van to leave, and you were still. Suddenly, you hated that you had been scared of her, and wanted nothing more than to beg her for forgiveness. It wasn’t her fault that she’d been forced into that identity. But what could you do? There it was again. The likely chance that you’d ruined it. Again, again, again. Damn it.

After that ordeal, you slept a bit longer with Cheongdong by your side, and then went to find your son. Upon wandering around the house, you still couldn’t find him. You asked around, and Chris told you he’d gone out to the gardens, with Rip Van. You expected to be uneasy, but it was a perfect opportunity to apologise.

You walked up the driveway and along the path until you got to the small trail that led to the garden. A maze of beautiful tiffany roses, peach, yellow-red tipped, crimson red, pale pink, white, everything, every shade of green to ballad with the vibrancy of the petals. Archways of climbing roses that welcomed you, and patches of free-growing roses. A small little converted shed within the garden walls held a humble lounge with a fireplace, couches and everything needed to be comfortable. 

You flowed through the well versed labyrinth that you knew and loved so much, until you got to the very heart of the garden. Through one more archway of white roses, was a small cleared out area with a bench surrounding the base of a huge, centuries old English oak tree. And sitting on the bench was Alistair and Rip Van, deep in chatter, holding a bouquet of pink roses. You noticed that she had taken off her swastika pendant, and it was nowhere to be seen. You swallowed down the guilt and stepped forward into the garden.

Alistair noticed you and ran up to you. He hugged your legs, and you stroked his head. 

‘Why don’t you go take those flowers back to Dill, and he can put them on the dining table.’ Alistair nodded enthusiastically and ran out of the garden, leaving you and Rip Van alone. She had averted her gaze, and was fiddling with a single red rose. You went down and sat next to her, your shoulders brushing slightly. But you didn’t pull away.

‘I’m sorry, that was a terrible thing for me to do.’ You chewed on your lip.

‘No, it was my fault for pouncing on you like that.’ The bruise on your neck throbbed, and what had happened that morning dribbled in again. ‘I guess I just miss the feeling of battle energy.’ You looked up in unexpected understanding, a small amount of energy in the words she said, and locked eyes with her, but unlike before, neither of you flinched nor fell away. 

Then your suspicion rose to the highest it was ever going to get, and you spilled what was irking you since you’d taken her from Millennium.

‘Why don’t you want to go back to Millennium?’


	19. Rain in the rose garden

She hated it. She hated the question and wanted nothing to do with it. The conflict that she was clearly experiencing drenched her inside and out, and she couldn’t avoid it. You hated seeing her like this; on edge and stuck, but it was unavoidable. Her fair skin turned paler at the mere thought of the answer, and the only answer there was.

You knelt next to her, your knees on the bench, and placed your lips on the crook of her neck, breath mild on the flesh. ‘Tell me, Rip Van,’ your voice was sad and husky, but held a certain delicacy to it, one that made Rip Van shudder, ‘why don’t you want to go back to Millennium? Nothing short of a fragile whisper made her clench her fists. You could feel her pulse through her neck going berserk and you couldn’t say any better for yourself. You lightly kissed her tender skin and crawled your finger down her collar slowly. Her breath hitched in her throat and she opened her mouth.

‘I-I was faulty. My fear of Alucard made them think that I wasn’t a perfect specimen, and after my mission failure this time, they would’ve certainly have gotten rid of me. I can’t-I can’t go back. Not now.’

‘Hmm…’ How strange. You had been trying to keep her here for your own benefit, and yet it seemed like she really couldn’t leave, and she was right here, in your property. That meant…she was your property. Until she could go back safely. Which was…never! She was yours forever and ever. You laced your arms under her and grabbed her breasts, gripping them and kneading them through the fabric. She let out a gasp and you buried your nose into her gorgeous black-blue hair, and breathed in her scent, setting your nerves on fire.  
‘Hah, Rip Van…’ you breathed out, unbuttoning her shirt and dropping it. You lowered her bra and groped her bare breasts, pinching the nipples, rewarding you with a delectable hiss. Your left leg had wrapped round her and was fondling her crotch, and her hips jerked upwards, as if needing more friction from something, somewhere.

‘Haha, excited?’ You dug your heel straight in between her legs, and she let out a hearty moan, jerking her head back, giving you access to more skin. She began to rut her hips up in a continuous motion, rubbing herself against your heel, mewling and grimacing in pleasure.

Then, unexpectedly, she pushed you on the grass as she’d done that morning, and pulled your dress off. You squeaked in surprise, but you held your breath when she took your breast in her mouth and sucked. You shuddered at the hot sensation that you hadn’t felt in a while. The grass was gentle under your back, but Rip Van’s harsh movements were even better, and you growled at her domination of you, which you did not realise would be such a turn on considering how you felt about possessing her. 

You grabbed her hips to pull her down on your throbbing clit, and when the feeling reached her, the clothes she was wearing was too much of a barrier. Clenching her teeth in an overdrive of arousal, she yanked her trousers off, and when they were discarded, she slammed her hips down on you and grinded roughly into your pussy, and a wanton cry escaped both your lips. Rip Van wrapped her arms around your hips to press you both together further, and grinded harder and faster. Her huffs of breath were in your ear, and her freckles had disappeared in her flushed cheeks, and the closer you pulled each other together, the louder they got. You were the same, clinging onto the other, driving as much pressure and friction as you could out of it, and you felt yourself tightening all over, and your orgasm pooled in your stomach ready to burst out at the feeling of her swollen clit on your own. You sucked on her neck hard, and with that, she orgasmed, crying out, her cum spilling all over your crotch. In turn, the feeling of Rip Van’s orgasm on your clit made you cum, and you clenched your eyes shut as you trembled, your own juices pouring. 

After the high, Rip Van rolled off of you to your left, and you both lay there, panting.

‘This is all your fault, you know?’ Rip Van said, in her gorgeous German accent. ‘You capturing me, the major thinking I’m weak, you separating me from the things I love most. It’s all your fault, and one day, you’re going to pay for all the sins you’ve committed your entire life. And it’s all your own fault!

You saw a tear slide down her cheek, and you waited a while before answering.

‘I know.’

The reality of it all, was that you knew it was all true. And you always had known.


	20. Moth 19

After that, you couldn’t concentrate. All you could see when you unfocused your eyes was the strained and aroused expression of Rip Van’s face. The way she panted and panted and bared her sharp teeth. Oh, how you wanted to ram your tongue between them, let them draw blood and then watch her lick it up. You licked your lips thinking about it, and when you couldn’t stand looking at your paperwork anymore, you wandered out back to the garden where Rip Van was repairing an aircraft that you’d gotten today. On quite a daily basis, you got requests to fix royal aircrafts and weapons and such for high amounts of money, and it appeared that Rip Van was a natural engineer.

Your neck burned when you watched her working hard, and you revelled in the feeling, and walked closer to feel the aphrodisiac of her scent more. She noticed you and turned around grinning sharply and sneered. ‘Ha, gutentag, limey.’ She put extra emphasis on the last word, and you smirked indignantly at her sad attempt at indifference.

‘Hmm, were you this confident yesterday in the rose garden, eh?’ At that, her sneer dissipated and you grinned a little more and looked at her through narrow eyes. She faltered under your glare, and as you moved closer, she hastily turned back around and got on with her work. She furiously worked her spanner and jumped in surprise when you slid your hands around her chest and grabbed her breasts. The height difference was strange, but you were still able to make her fall under you.

Unexpectedly though, she swapped your positions and pushed you against the dirty aircraft before unbuttoning your shirt. She fondled with your own breasts and pinched your nipple, making you squeak in anticipation. Her hand travelled down under your skirt and the heat from her fingers lit your womanhood alight. They circled your clit and squeezed the bud, and tremors of pleasure took over your body. You could feel her panting against your neck, her nipples poking through her thin, borrowed overalls and brushing against yours. Rip Van unbuttoned the overalls and brought the top part down to heighten the contact.

She groaned at the sensation, and when she appeared to be at her limit, face strained and furiously red, she grabbed your hand and pressed your fingers against her sex. She cried aloud and you both kept touching and rubbing each other and panting against each other’s necks. Eventually, you both orgasmed, and you pulled your fingers out, dripping with cum. Rip Van lifted her fingers to her mouth and sucked on them, licking them clean. You heated up at the gesture, and did the same.

‘You certainly are good at taking control, I must say, Rip Van.’ You leaned against the aircraft, sweating slightly and turned up one corner of your mouth flirtatiously. 

She grinned a superior grin and got back to work on the plane. You couldn’t help but notice a kindly glint in her eye as she gave you her scheming expression.

 

That night, your heart erratically beat, and you couldn’t settle down. Pondering on what to do, you remembered Rip Van’s gun in the corner of your room, of which she had tried multiple times to sneak out with a 100% fail rate. The bad shape it was in was noticeable, but it was nothing beyond fixing, so, to ease your heart and mind, you picked it up and went down to the weapon workshop, which had a little repair room connected to it. You sat down and placed the musket on the worktop, getting to work on perfecting it. You worked through the incandescent rays of light shining through the little windows, and you smiled, content at the tranquillity. You found that you were doing this for Rip Van herself, and not for your own satisfaction. The thought made your stomach rage with butterflies, but you absolutely did not fight it. Instead, you just let the feeling flow through you, like a pleasant breeze atop a cliff.


	21. Murmur of gold

The redwood stock of Rip Van’s rifle shone with resin, and the brass was clean and dent free. Despite your well-considered feelings, you were still unsure as whether to trust her loyalty to Millennium, and so you waited to give her some of your bullets, or to give her the gun full-stop, and you locked it in the safe in the weaponry with a code that only you and Cheongdong knew. You’d been up all night, but you were buzzing with excitement to see Rip Van. Vampires didn’t necessarily sleep, and so she was probably wandering around the grounds. While you were there, you decided you might as well sharpen and polish your blades so you took them out and did that. By the time they were glaringly sharp, it was already half past six, and the sun rays were really shining in your eyes now, so you got up and left.

As you walked through the beautiful acres of your land, you really absorbed the true artistry of your manor in autumn. The fresh yellow-greens and heart-warming amber, and crisp brown that made the land absolutely English, all mixed with the leftover green from the trees outside your windows. Handsome, delicate, and perfect. Your beautiful manor.

The beauty was then ruined by the bleeping of your phone. You picked up and held it up to your ear slowly, and an infamously gruff voice muttered through the speaker. You murmured a response as quietly as possible. Even though your estate was the safest out there, you could never be too safe. You gripped your phone and quickly deleted the number and any way to trace it and strode back to the manor. There went your chances of seeing Rip Van today, but you could never ignore that voice over the phone. The one that you always looked forward to hearing.

Silent and serene, you gestured to Cheongdong in his room, and he nodded in understanding, and you both made your way to the war room. Through the doors, past the filing room, and finally, into the mission discussion room with no reception or technology at all, except for one old camera, which was absolutely untraceable. You both sat down, and you turned to face him. 

‘We’ve got someone to kill, and someone to collect.’ You told him the details of the mission from a previous recruiter, and you got ready to go straight away. This wouldn’t be too tricky, but if it went wrong, then it could cause a chain reaction of mishaps, which could ultimately be fatal. You considered maybe taking Rip Van, but despite of the violence that’d be involved, you weren’t so sure she’d enjoy the lack of war atmosphere, so after leaving a quick message with Dill, you left the grounds at the early-ish hour of seven am. Your jet left at quarter past seven upon demand, and within an hour, you were rolling up to the right place. You were both nervous, yes, but that was normal for anyone doing a dangerous mission, despite the high chances of success.

To be honest, you were more worried about Rip Van being on her own. She more or less knew her way around the mansion, and was friendly with most of your soldiers, and Alistair loved her, so she should be fine. And yet, you couldn’t shake of the subtle anxiety at being without her. There was almost an empty space next to you and Cheongdong.

Eventually, you found the area, and walked in. It was a cheap strip club full of cheap strippers and cheap alcohol. You both curled your noses up at the strange disinfectant like smell, and you were annoyingly reminded of the wound on Rip Van’s perfect chest. You swallowed and ploughed through her absence, which was getting really irritating. What were you, some sort of lovestruck fool…?

Soon enough, your person came, and you remembered the words of the gruff voice over the phone a couple of hours ago.

‘’Make a scene of it.’’ 

You didn’t understand why, but you never questioned that voice; the only voice that could tell you what to do. So you got on with it.

The harsh sound of your blades being drawn gathered the attention you needed, and Cheongdong’s dagger tipped bo-staff was even better. A handful of slashes later, and most of the guy you were looking for was down, his sludgy flesh seared across the dirty floor. The sound of screams, shouts and cheap guns being cocked were heard all around. A flurry of swift movements, the swishing of blades, and the heavy thud of bodies marked the end of that mission, the two people needing to be captured in Cheongdong’s grasp.

One of the two was a smug looking slag who really took the piss, wearing fake designer clothes, who you guessed to be the manager, and the other was a pitifully sad looking bitch who was bland enough to give salt kidney failure with her complaints of being too poor to not try and rob a high class mansion. You groaned at your new unwanted package, and both you and Cheongdong had instantaneously made up your minds to dump them in the cells, proper prisoner of war style. You supposed you felt kinda bad, but their personalities really annoyed you, so it was decided. Three hours, and the mission was over. 

You were tremendously excited for some reason to show Rip Van your new prisoners, and to show her that she was special for being treated better. You pulled up into the driveway of your lovely discreet manor, and yanked the prisoners in the back way, through the garage, down the musty stairs and into the brightly lit cells, where you pushed the two prisoners into one each.

‘I’ll speak to you later.’ And without listening to their useless protest, you jogged up the stairs and through into the main house, being sure to try and miss the beginnings of an afternoon zdownpour. When you got in, you realised how sticky with blood you were. Cheongdong had already gone up to have a shower, and so you decided to follow suit. On the way up the stairs, you noticed a flash of blue on the landing, and the next thing you knew, you were engulfed in an embrace by none other than Rip Van Winkle, whom, to your surprise, was clinging onto you tightly.

You began to try and explain yourself, but it was cut off by her exclaim. ‘Where have you been!’

She then realised her emotive words, and growled in fury at herself for being so worried, and ripped herself away from you.

‘I guess you didn’t get the message. I was on a mission in Ireland. There was a lot of blood.’

She looked at her newly tailored blazer, which you had ordered in from the best tailor in London, which had a small splotch of blood on it. She took it off for washing, but still turned to face you.

‘You have some prisoners of war, I heard from Cheongdong,’ she started. You nodded at her to carry on, but instead, she swung around in frustration and went to her room. You were pretty sure you knew what she meant. Was another ‘prisoner of war’ going to take her place? Her jealousy was showing in little flecks, and it made your pulse race.


	22. Alpha-velvet

After your shower, you lay on your bed in silence, thinking only of Rip Van’s fickle actions, before getting up and dressed for the late afternoon. By this time, you weren’t denying the possible feelings you had for her, but decided to keep them hidden for the time being. Of course Cheongdong knew, but that was to be expected from him. You walked down to cells, where you found him and Rip Van already there questioning them. Rip Van flushed slightly when she caught sight of you, and turned around to face the prisoners, who were looking apprehensive at Cheongdong’s intimidating demeanour. You and Cheongdong both had decided to give Rip Van a taste of your business methods to maybe rid of her battle withdrawal symptoms.

The irking clack of your shoes made them cower, and you faced them dead on. They’d been moved to the same cell to make things easier. If they ripped each other’s throats out, then so be it. Over the phone, you found out that fake Gucci’s name was Carmeen, and she was trying her hardest to stare you down, and pitiful poor was called Suzie. You knew that they were important parts of an illegal prostitution business that were giving the voice over the phone’s international business some grief. These two were apparently the ‘looks’ of the business that drew in overseas customers, more specifically, drug dealers, although you couldn’t say much in terms of looks. The only noteable thing was their big breasts, just like Seras’, but at least Seras was somewhat attractive. You also noticed them bulging their chests out a little. Obviously the perfectly true rumour of you swinging both ways had got around, but obviously you weren’t interested, especially when you had something else to admire in the manor now.

But clearly, Rip Van thought different. Her grim face hid nothing, and she glared daggers at the new prisoners. After asking them a few questions, you decided to enter the cell to deal with the lack of cooperation. The cell closed with a clang, and Carmeen’s gross grin made you hate her more. She was sitting on the floor, pushing her chest out even more. You stood right over her, the blood red of your velvety dress a stark contrast against the grey of the cell. But you were tired and the look on the prisoners’ faces were sickening, so you decided to let Cheongdong do it, since he’d already slept this afternoon.

‘I’ll leave this up to you, yeah?’ Cheongdong nodded at the request, and you promptly left the wretched place. On your way out, you stumbled in hatred for the people you’d been ordered to capture. After a few hours of reading in bed, you heard the faint sound of Rip Van’s door closing, and then the deflating creak of the bed being flopped on. You really wanted to see her, but you weren’t too sure she was in the mood. You could read her so easily. Jealousy was written all over her face. You decided to let her cool off for the night. She didn’t even come down for dinner… 

The next day, wearing your most anger provoking red dress and stilettos, you strutted down to the cells to question the prisoners again. But just as yesterday, you got nothing. You towered over them and they grimaced a bit, but then, just as Rip Van and Cheongdong came down, the plucky little bitch decided to stroke your inner thigh in an attempt to seduce you or something, and you suppressed the urge to retch. You heard Rip Van hiss outside the cell, and at that, you slammed your heeled shoe onto the wall right next to the whore, making her tremble with terror, and the noise making Suzie cry out. She spilled everything she knew, including the decent amount that Cheongdong had scared out of her and Suzie the day before, before returning to her usual thotery. But she couldn’t hide it any longer. She’d shamefully told us everything, and you indulged in her sad attempt at recovery. They both walked up to you, purring useless requests to not tell anyone about what they’d said. They pressed their breasts against you, but the resonating clang of Rip Van slamming her hands angrily against the bars made them twitch, and you booted them away with a heel to the face. They were both bleeding from the brute force, but Rip Van had already ran out. You felt bad for making Cheongdong always pick up the pieces, but thankfully, he was more than willing to do it. You ran up the stairs and into the house and again, up to the landing to find Rip Van with her head against the wall, shaking with anger. Her jealousy was tangible, and you smiled gently. 

She saw you and turned bright red at your inquisitive smile. She knew that you knew what was going on, but you cruelly decided to tease her, especially considering her particular affection yesterday, and dragged her into your room.

‘What’s wrong?’ you asked, staring into her eyes, and making her tremble even more. She tried to run away, but your death grip prevailed, and a stroke at her waist made her bare her teeth, and she flipped. She pushed you onto the floor, pulled her trousers off and grabbed your hair and pressed your mouth in-between her legs. You noticed how hot and swollen she was down there already, and how she must’ve been turned on whilst you were gripping on to her. She groaned at finally being able to relieve her arousal. At first, you were shocked, but then you gradually accustomed to the dominance, and you grabbed onto her hips. You swirled your tongue around her clit, and she trembled in pleasure. You felt her move one of her legs onto the bed as to allow more space for your mouth, and after a while, her panting got louder, and her hips jerked back and forth on their own. She then pressed your face against her, hard, and violently orgasmed before dropping to the floor in defeat. 

The breathless, beautiful vampire that you seemed to love so unexpectedly dearly began to utter words of apology, but you cut her off, resting your forehead on her shoulder. 

‘Rip Van,’ she buried her face into your neck, ‘it’s ok, it’s ok. Those girls are being taken away soon, and we’ll never have to see them again.’

She held you tighter until you fell asleep, and lay next to you on your bed, silently watching you.


	23. The Paladins Principle

The next morning, there was a curious knock at the door from a curious person, but after your late night, you were far too deeply asleep to hear it, so Dill let the guest in, and brought his suitcase as well.

You woke up much later, very nearly midday, groggy and slouchy and feeling like you had a load of weights attached to your shoulders. Next to you, Rip Van Winkle was lying on her side facing you. But her eyes were closed. Hesitating slightly, you brought your fingers up to her pale cheek and stroked your fingers across the soft skin, but no sooner remembered that vampires didn’t sleep, and withdrew your hand with haste. Rip Van’s eyes flickered open, bright and blue and making your heart palpitate with just-woke-up energy.

She sat up, her face suddenly burning bright, and quickly muttered something about a guest being downstairs. But she didn’t run out like you expected her to, but instead sat on the edge of the other side of the bed facing the window with the may green trees. You noticed a new set of clothes had been lovingly laid out on the bed, and your heart stumbled momentarily. You crawled across the bed to her, quietly, and placed a kiss on her temple, gently holding the back of her neck through her hair, and then got up again, leaving her frozen and flushed. The silence was silky and delicate, and Rip Van’s heartbeat could be heard from the other side of the bed. You were no better. Your lips still tingled with the feel and taste of her, and you wasted no time in getting dressed. Although you’d been nude in front of eachother before, the situation was so different and fragile, that you actually felt somewhat embarrassed about getting undressed in front of her, even though she was facing the window.

Downstairs, this guest had been waiting patiently in the living room, and when you entered, Rip Van not too far behind, the man got up, wise and jovial, and held his arms open. In shock and happiness and relief, you ran into them, hugging the person you’d spoken to over the phone about a mission in Ireland, who’s gruff voice was the only you obeyed, and the man who you missed the most. 

Your older brother, in his early thirties and owner of the international business that the prostitution one was getting in the way of, held you at arm’s length to see if there were any injuries, and hugged you again in satisfaction. Cheongdong came by and shook his hand comfortably, smiling wide before everyone settled down to have a chat, including Rip Van who was looking more and more confused by the second. 

Before the phone call the other day, you hadn’t spoken to him in months, so you were immensely glad to see him in good health. He eyed Rip Van with curiosity, and you explained who she was, trying very hard to leave out the more explicit and tell-tale descriptions of their relationship, although there wasn’t really much you could hide from him, and he already looked mischievously curious about the two of you. On the other hand, Rip Van was outwardly nervous, and was moving her index finger in the way one would pull a trigger on a gun. Maybe you should take her out for some shooting? 

You asked why your brother was here, and it was merely a leisurely visit. Later that evening, you went through some paperwork, alone, before your brother came in to talk a bit.

‘How are you? The house and gardens are looking nice.’ He said, in his heart-warmingly docile voice.

‘I’m actually ok, things have gotten a bit more interesting now that-‘

‘-now that the nazi is here. Right.’ He raised an eyebrow expectantly.

You were silent, and didn’t know how to respond to what you thought was blatant insensitivity.

‘I do hope you understand my concern. You’re in love with a nazi, not to mention a vampire. You don’t even know if it’s still loyal to millennium or not.’

Again, you didn’t know what to say, because everything he was saying was true. You didn’t fully know if she could be trusted. You didn’t know if her beautiful physique was the whole plan of her blueprints. Whether or not she was only here to infiltrate your organisation. He was more sour about it than you expected, even if he didn't show it, but maybe his brotherly instincts of protecting you were kicking in again.

‘I’ll leave you to think about it, ok? Sleep well.’ He left and closed the door very gently, almost as if the slightest sound could break you.


	24. Turning Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters title is named after one of my favourite books, 'Turning Blue' by Benjamin Myers, based in the Yorkshire moors, near where this is set. A beautiful and unsettling book, with a completely opposite mood to this fiction. xxx

Warm. Warmth. The pretentiously comfortable warmth of your office. Red, brown, mahogany: all warm. You feel comfort being in it. So comfy and so homely. The room that smells like amber and Glenfiddich. Warm.

You would sit in that office for hours on end doing everything you needed to do. But it was never boring, because you were in the cosiness of your office with a glass of whiskey, always slightly too full. So there you sat, staring at your papers but not actually reading them, sipping on your malt far too fast and thinking far too deep. Your brother. You loved him, wanted to protect him, wanted him to protect you. But sometimes he was too vigilant for his own good. You brooded and stewed over his words, and when you were about to boil over with thick, putrid matter, you downed the rest of your drink and abruptly walked out of the office, the back of your throat burning slightly unpleasantly.

You walked mildly tipsy towards the back of the manor, where the family room were, much farther back than the guest rooms. Your brother’s, parent’s and Cheongdong’s rooms were there, close to you, safe. You quietly stalked past those room and headed even further back, to a small weathered door. You unlocked it and swung it open to reveal a grand and architechtually pleasing library, fit with two layers, placid and soft reading areas, secluded from the minimal and rare noise, and the relatively big space would appear to an outsider to be the large undefined space at the back of the manor house. But it was your pride and joy, despite only you, your brother, parents and Cheongdong knowing about it.

Yet, as you walked in, you veered straight ahead to a small reading area at the far end of the library which seemed to be cut out of bookshelves, so many books, and arrived at a small door that was rarely used, even less frequently than the actual library door, and twisted the rusty doorknob. There was a flight of stairs, scarcely used, but leading to somewhere you longed to be. Up and up and up the stone steps. Up and up, up and up, up and up. They twisted at sharp right angles, making you feel a bit nauseous, but you cherish it, knowing that you had only pleasant waiting for you.

Eventually, you got to the top, where another door awaited you, and you unlocked your third door that night, and pushed it open clumsily, welcoming you with a strangely clear night sky, lit up with and satisfying sweeping of stars, a three quarter moon and a handful of grey clouds. You instantly relax. The fluid lines of the house’s edges and the intrusive softness of the indigo made your chest fill with sweet honey, sticky and smooth and warm. The roof of the manor was narrow, but there was enough space for multiple people, though only you used it. You looked at the sky again, and thought of Rip Van. You then looked straight down at the driveway, and thought the comforting thought of flying down to that neat and large patch of gravel, and sleeping there forever after landing. You twitched suggestively and turned around in unwanted bitterness to the other side of the scalloped roof, where the recently repaired Moth 19 was waiting, ready to be flown North West to the RAF Station Flyingdales. 

Up and over the moors. The beautiful, bleak moors. You thought of Rip Van again. You feebly attempted to resist, but gave in. Three minutes later, you were crawling on top of the vampire’s still form. The softness of the sheets in comparison to the rough edges of the roof was nice, and you ended up on all fours on top of her. Her eyes flew open at your touch, and your knees nearly buckled at the unabsorbable beauty of her eyes. You gripped her shoulders, and she lay still in mild shock as you ran your tongue up her throat, before clasping your lips in her most sensitive area, making her tense up. She was under the duvet, so you took your clothes off and slid under. You began to pluck at her clothes as she breathed heavier, her scent all over you. You felt dizzy with exhaustion and lust and longing. You pulled her shirt off and then her trousers. The sheets only covered your bottom halves, and so both your bare chests were exposed, Rip Vans pale flesh glowing silver in the moonlight, soft and supple and silent. All that could be heard was the rustling of sheets, the blowing of mild night air through the open window on the mesh drape, and heavy, sharp breathing emitted by both figures.

Under the sheets, you gently pressed your crotch into Rip Van’s, making her mewl in arousal, and her hips lifted to meet yours in an even stronger wave of sensation. The repetitive movement and the smoothness of her breasts and the scent of her hair made you gasp in jerked movements and Rip Van pressed her face into the crook of your neck, making you shiver. You trembled, she clenched you, and you both came at the same time. You collapsed on top of her, breathing hard, still feeling her warm and cold breath on your shoulder. After a few minutes, you lifted yourself up off of her, beginning to walk away. But then, the silence, the wind, the float of the air was gentle. The whole room was washed in nighttime blue, and you completely forgot about your brother's warning. You turned around, sat on the edge of the bed, and pressed your lips onto Rip Vans for the first time.


	25. Besessenheit von der Mondnacht

It was gentle, but still had a hint of surprise when your lips latched onto hers. At first she froze, then suddenly, like the unexpected flock of partridges, she hooked one hand around your back and grabbed your hair with the other, pulling you in. The flight. A near perfect formation and allegro of flapping wings of freedom. Bliss. Never had you wanted so. Needed so. Not even in your heated moments of sex did you ever want more than now. The kiss suddenly became desperate as your tongues grappled with a ferocity so unbeknownst. Sparks flew like a snapped wire. Your hands tangled in her hair, so hard, and you loved it. You couldn’t get closer.   
‘Rip Van….’ You gasped, part of your mouth still pressed to her flush. Then a jerk of the arm, and Rip Van jumped up and quickly ran out of the room, her moonshine flesh bare and so empty without you…  
************

She didn’t turn up the next morning. You were too afraid and unusually coy to search for. You didn’t even have the heart to ask Alistair, Dill, your brother, and even Cheongdong about it. You avoided it. A few worried glances from your subordinated aroused that fear within you again and you held it together until that evening, when you had no other choice. You were outside the door, and you knocked.

‘Come in.’ a voice said. Your brother was sitting at his desk with a glass of wine, oddly enough, and some paperwork, just like I usually would. You supposed he really was your brother, you laughed internally. He ushered you to sit down and turned to face you. It was late enough, but no matter how tired you were, or how little sleep you got the night before, you couldn’t settle down.

‘It’s about her isn’t it?’ Of course it was.

‘I don’t know where she went, but I won’t ask.’

‘Because you’re afraid of bringing it up; you feel guilty and won’t take responsibility for yourself.’ Spot on. ‘What happened?’ Your brother’s warm and comfortable gaze made you open up as you sipped   
his wine which had miraculously appeared in your hand when you reached for something, anything, to soothe your nerves.

‘She realised.’ Silence.

‘Realised what? Say it, it’s ok’ I shook my head, but finally, after a few minutes of shivering and gulping of wine, you broke down.

‘I love her. I really, really love her. I want her back. I love her, I love her…!’ You sobbed and choked on your tears and grief as your brother held you tight, and you fell asleep, a wave of relief never known to you before rushing over your head as you fell into a deep slumber.  
*****************  
At the same hour, same minute, same second, Rip Van Winkle was lying in the moors, far from everything where she had run with her enhanced speed. Far away, in the cool dewy night time grass, she touched herself. She thought of that steaming kiss you’d shared and moaned into her fingers. Barely a moan of pleasure, but that of grief and frustration. Her fingers weren’t enough. She needed you. Your fingers, your mouth, your everything. She cried, irritated and fallen. Hopelessly fallen, because she wanted you. Rip Van cried your name out into the night, the darkness caressing her vampire body. That’s right. How could a beautiful, strong and warming human be loved by an artificial, fake vampire? Disgusting. She cried your name more into the silent, silent night.


End file.
